To be a good fielder a cricketer should not be scared (to death) of feeling the pain (in diving) and must not care about getting their uniform dirty. Some of our beautiful lads are so concerned about their looks that they pile up so much sun block on their faces as if they are trying to scare off the demons.

May I suggest Boot Camp for journalist chairman of PCB, Mr. Najam Sehti, he might learn the basics of cricket.. Sitting in arm chair at TV talk show does not help as far as cricket is concerned.

Mr. Waseem Akram, forget about cricket, lets worry about our country. Do you know what happened in Islamabad? Do you have any concern for innocent lives? Can you come out to do something? Can you suggest boot camp for our leaders? Can you finish the corruption from our beloved land? Cricket, Cricket, Cricket... Your Pakistani brothers and sistgers and children are dying everyday and you are talking worried about World Cup..Shame on you.

so Pakistanis are starting their 2015 world cup with a loss.Yes, it is against India and its looks almost impossible now that this generation of ours will ever see Pakistan winning any match against India in a world cup. Best of luck Pakistan.Think of winning other matches, not this match against India.

@Feroze K: PCB Chairmanship is an administrative job. Just like Srinivasan of India.

Great advice from a cricket champion, Wasim Akram. I would hope PCB and Sethi are paying attention to such sage words which are genuine and sincere. One would expect all the Pakistani cricket teams to prepare to the max with a full fitness training and " boot camp" program at the host country's cricket grounds.Practice always makes perfect, and in Pakistan's case - the more heavy duty practice, the more well prepared they will be. IA, our prayers and hopes are with all the Pak cricketers .. and only wish the PCB head was Wasim Akram.

@Dr. Sehar Khan: Wasim is an Ex cricketer not a politician he can only comment/suggest something related to cricket. Loss of innocent lives is really sad but It does it mean life should come to a standstill and we stop everything else?

An excellent idea but are the movers and shakers of PCB listening? I leave the answer to the enlightened, educated, excelling and enduring readers and writers of this great DAWN forum.

Good idea. They do need the drill, routine and discipline to better their game and technique. Tera kya ho gaa Shahid Afridi?

Dear Mr. Wasim Akram While I like you and several others with whom you played for Pakistan, and respect your views and desire to see Pakistan cricket improve, I fail to understand, why we are still talking of fitness and fielding. I have been hearing of these two issues and several others regarding Pakistan team for the past 20 years or so. Fitness is not something that cannot be achieved. It requires hard work, few hours a day, almost daily. Fitness is part and parcel of professional sport and of professionalism in sport. With all the experience you have and of many other cricketers of Pakistan, can no one point to a factor or factors, as to why fitness, so many years down the line is still an issue. Fitness is a matter of few hours of diligent,committed,regular, routine, daily hard work. Regards fielding,Mr Rhodes input might work. Was he not at one time hired for his fielding abilities. Did it work? No , it did not. Short term plans will not work.You need to think in long terms. Fitness, hard work and fielding, must go hand in hand. It is not only physical ability, the mental psyche of professionalism needs to be inculcated, and so with it, will improved performances. Good Luck

Pakistan needs to find FIT players not PARCHEE PASSENGERS. A good sportsman will know how to keep himself fit on International stage. Imran never had any need to do such drills. Pakistan needs to find real Talent and get rid of unfit/semi fit players, so simple.

Excellent suggestion by Legendary Wasim Akram; but unfortunately all will fall on deaf ears of Najam Sethi and other

@Dr. Sehar Khan: Wasim Akram is not the problem of all issues Pakistan is facing and he certainly doesn't have the solution. He is a cricketer and when he talks cricket, it makes sense. So instead of bashing him for non-cricketing issues, we should give him respect for his sincere opinion and efforts (arranging Jhonty Rhodes to train Pak players) to uplift Pak cricket team. The country needs to get involved in other activities to nourish and flourish! Peace!

Good idea by the sultan of swing. Yes we do require boot camp training. Also let the team reach australia 1 month before the tournament to get used to condition. sL won t20world cup because of same strategy they were in Bangladesh 2 months before the world cup. Also we require a good coach namely mohsin khan or waqar younis and PLEASE no kamran akmal or Shoaib malik or no parchee players this time. Enough is enough.i donot agree with wasim akram regarding the reaction on t20 loss,our nation is cricket mad on winning they will love the team but losses are unpardonable.

@Dr. Sehar Khan: What wasim is now the PM/Prez of Pakistan? Get real.

@Dr. Sehar Khan: wow ... well said

@umair: that is our problem, come and see athletes from other countries how they are involve with everyday lives their fellow citizens and communities. Your country is burning and you are worried about world cup. Come out Mr. Akram and bring your so called supporters with you.

@AJamal: He is another crony of Nawaz Sharif who appointed him chairman PCB. He has not been elected by cricket control board (if the is any).

@Dr. Sehar Khan: What an absolutely silly comment. He is a cricketer talking about cricket. Do you want every professional in the country (Drs, Engineers, Actors, Shopkeepers,) to stop their work and start talking about politicians and bombings.

@Dr. Sehar Khan: Sirjee cricket is now the only thing that unites us. One should stick to his trade, Wasim is a cricketer not a politician. Besides the show must go on!

While this a good suggestion but piecemeal suggestions do not go far enough. I say get rid of Najam Sethi and other chamchas of Raiwind clan and put professionals in their place. Then let them do whatever it takes to create a world class Cricket team that we once were.

@Dr. Sehar Khan: Please Sehar, asking Wasim Akram to step back from Cricket is not fair in any sense. Yes many innocents are dying due to outside forces which is the government's responsibitly - not Wasim Akram or Shahid Afridi's. Please take your grievances to the Nawaz Sharif government and politicians who could easily install maximum security systems all over our cities as in London and NYC. Imran Khan, despite countless protests and rallies against such terror attacks, has not been able to make a dent in this request to increase hi tech security systems/monitoring to prevent such inhumane devastation. **Prevention and massive security** is the key to these killing fields - not after the fact when it's too late.

sorry wasim Bhai.... but hafeez is a pathetic captain that 1) cannot talk 2) cannot lead. everything with him and to some extent misbah too is like a plan laid out.. they never change anything.. its all staple everytime.. captainship is about reading the game and adapting.. I think shahid afridi is the best limited overs option available but we need someone like dhoni... dhoni is usually a step ahead in the limited overs version and never allows the opposition to settle even with his limited bowling resources.. we need an imaginative person like that who is not afraid to try stomp his authority on the game

Excellent suggestion - they must be sent forthwith.

No hope from this bunch of cricketers and cricket administration. Again, failures all included in the team. Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Hafeez. - 4 of the worst cricketers in the world. Only good for domestic Cricket.

Why the super experts only come up with trivial stuff? I read the entire article nothing but as a sales pitch for Jonty Rhodes. Nothing is wrong with Jonty but PCB should approach Jonty if they think he is the best suited person as a fielding coach. My recommendation is the entire team needs mental fitness boot camp first.

Blinding flash of the obvious - courtesy Wasim Akram

1) first teach the player to communicate in one language while on field. 2) Make them workout for straight 6 months. 3) Fire Misbah and Hafeez for ruining Mohd. Irfan as a bowling resource. 4) Only one Akmal in the team 5) No one over 35 unless World record holder. 6) Fire Sethi, Zaka, Inthikhab Alam and Subhan. 7) Bulid Cricket Academy in Abbotabad. 8) No PCB office in Karachi or Lahore Good Luck

1) Define Purpose of PCB 2)Define PCB Identity 3) Define PCB long-range intention 4) define PCB's culture 5) define PCB's goals 6)define PCB's Metrics 7) Define PCB's strategy 8) Define PCB's portfolio 9) Define PCB's Programs and projects 10) Define PCB's operations 11) Define PCB's structure 12) Define PCB's CULTURE. Challenge to Sethi- Can you do all this? If you do not understand all this then QUIT

Can some one address the gun point robberies in Karachi. Any end to this menace?

It's very easy to give lecture to others. Rather than spending his life time in India for commentary or IPL work, why does he himself not getting into the system to improve the performance of pak team.

What ever camp you start, which ever coach you hire, what ever facilities you provide.......you cannot win if you don't address the basic need which is the selection of team on merit, i am afraid that when the team will be announced for world cup 2015, every Parchi player will be in the top of list.

It is surprising that some people are adamant to boost the image of a cricketer who has been involved in corruption during his career. Not only this, he spends most of his time in India, collaborating with the agencies and gambling during cricket matches. He is a convicted player and was banned but some paid journalists through gambling are continuously boosting his image if the nation has forgotten the corrupt activities of Wasim Akram.

@Patriot, Could not agree more. It is very obvious that talented pople rather coach Afghanistan or any other country. Any International person would be insane to come to Pakistan again. Have likes of Dave Whatmore , Bob W. , Jeff Lawson and others not learned their lesson yet. Coaching Pakistan is a very thankless job and it does not enhance your resume at all.Morally bankrupt country can not and will not offer you anything. Please stay away from Pakistan it is not a safe place to go.

Honestly, I don't see fielding as the main problem for Pakistan. Even in 1992 world cup, we won with poor fielding (Remember Moin dropping one catch after the other). You have to live with giving 10-15 extra runs to the opposing team and dropping a couple of catches in every match. This has been the case with the Pakistan team for eternity and it will be the case 50 years from here as well. What I am more worried about is the batting with batsmen having faulty techniques against decent bowling and on decent pitches. What I am worried about is the bowling which has recently started to take a spanking with no world class fast bowlers to swing the ball appreciably at the start of the innings, blast the opposing batsmen out in the middle with the pace or contain runs at the end of the innings with perfect lengths. I am also worried about the psychology of the team as a whole which fails to take the pressure (whether in batting or bowling), and crumble like nine-pins when the pressure begins to mount. In addition, I would like to say that the format of the World Cup is such that just like in 2011, you just have to win only against minor teams in the group to qualify for the quarterfinals (1992 format was totally different and extremely competitive). In the current format, even if you lose big games against big teams prior to the quarter-finals, it won't matter much, as top 8 teams in world cricket will anyhow qualify for the quarter-finals, just like it happened in 2011 and back in 1996 as well. So, there will be plenty of opportunities to get adapted to the conditions in the main matches as well. So, even if the team doesn't arrive early in Australia, I don't think, it will hamper their chances big time. Realistically, you only have to win 3 matches from quarter-finals onwards to win the World Cup. In addition, I would like to say that Hafeez is an extremely average player who should never have played for Pakistan, let alone captain the side. His decision to step down has come as a relief to me.

@Dr. Sehar Khan: Seriously? As a neutral person I would say you are asking an incorrect party to take measures to counter terrorism. Every individual in their professional capacity have certain roles they have to fulfil. He is trying to come up with possible solutions to increase the merit of Pakistan cricket and I have no clue from where you diverted this suggestion to his lack of interest in Pakistan's security situation. Very irrelevant comment to me. Please let the sense prevail and address the issues on correct forums. Thanks

undoubtedly wasim akram was great all rounder we proud of him he took maximum wickets for test and in odi for pakistan, but it does not mean what ever he is saying board should follow his suggestions of using and giving opportunity to the same players, wasim gave examples of australia and eng that they also did not qualify for semi but still no stern reaction from their boards, if we recall england ousted their best player pieterson after ashes loss. so they already have picked new players they do not need to change again all but we have to from now on give opportunity to our new blood instead using same policy of same players will be taken for tours

@Dr. Sehar Khan: Sehar: You have been watching too many news channels lately. Switch to sports channels!

@adnan: spot on!

Sir, Poor Pakistani cricketers are already going through various camps within their team and Wasim Akram is proposing another camp. The problem with our cricketers is lack of professionalism and selection bias. A cricketer who has not played or performed gets selected whereas those who excel in the domestic cricket every year are either not selected or are mere taken to carry drinks on a tour and gets dropped again. In his era Wasim Akram knew that if he threw any tantrum then Imran Khan or Javed Miandad will chuck him out of the team forever whereas now a days one cricketer lands at Karachi airport after T20 world cup and criticizes his batsmen whereas another one slaps a traffic warden in Lahore just before the most important Asia cup 2014. Any other cricket board would have banished both the mavericks out of the team whereas in Pakistan one is most likely to become the captain whereas the other dedicates his best innings to his brother??? Regards

@Dr. Sehar Khan: Thats not Waseem Akram's fault, its the fault of people like you that Pakistan is ruined, its ideologies like yours that wants to remove every last bit of normalcy from our society , that has caused us to become a failed state. Pakistanis are dead coz they were never given the chance to live by people like you , Basant was bad, our marriage customs are bad , Cricket is bad, Music is bad movies are bad. Well only guns are left to enjoy, so enjoy.. people like you deserve it.

@Raja: What other countries can you please elaborate?, he is a cricketer and knows how much money we spend on this sport and how our nation loves this sport. Perhaps you should know that there are improvements needed in a lot of fields in Pakistan just like other countries, such as India or South Africa for example.

It is indeed mind boggling to see that Pakistan has such a brilliant class of both batsmen and bowlers and indeed Pakistan should not need any foreign coach. Pakistan has produced such a battery of versatile fast bowlers, like Waqar Yunis, Wasim Akram, Imran Khan , shoaib Akhtar and the old timer Fazal Mehmood that they hardly need any bowling coach from outside. Specially Wasim Akram's counselling is being utilised better by the IPL Kolcutta team and Wasim Akram spends more than in India than in Pakistan. People here value such talent and would utilise it when needed by paying the asking price. I wonder why Pakistan can not use their services for training and polishing the talent there. They have also plenty of batsmen of international standards but their services are hardly being utilised. BNA

@Dr. Sehar Khan: Truly wonderful. Country first and every other thing later.

@Dr. Sehar Khan: I guess you've stopped practicing as well and tell all your patients "All you can think of is your illness, ever worry about the country"?

@Khair: I live in Sharjah and there is a very famous restaurant here called 'Delhi Nihari' whenever Pakistan used to come to Sharjah for cricket I often saw Inzamam Ul Haq or Ejaz Ahmed there feasting in Nihari. Its our food sir, we have an unhealthy diet and sports and gym facilities aren't great in Pakistan. I feel there has to be a minimum fitness level for all cricketers which means if they can run at certain speeds for a certain duration then they cant be picked ! This is not so hard to implement will will just require another level in he selection process i.e. just like basic training for soldiers.

@@H__3: Ya that is end result...keep on watching sports, lets people die and lets have fun:( Watch the athletes of other countries they are not only involve with sports but for the good of their country...agar cricket nahi ho gi tu in ki roozi kaise chale gi...Selfish.

physical fitness dictates mental toughness.agree with him 100%

@Dr. Sehar Khan: He is an ex-cricketer. He doesnt have the skill sets that can fix politics or create a civic society. We cannot blame him for trying to fix cricket. Thats what he is supposed to do.

@AJamal: So it goes to the most corrupt person in the country? Najam Sethi has been appointed by our Prime Minister without any due process. Its just like monarchy all over again.

@tajamul: We might of lost against India in the World Cup but we beat you in the Asia cup two weeks earlier. And I love how you Indians love your statistics on the World Cup. Well here's another one for you pakistan has Beaten india more in every format of the game. Good luck trying to achieve better results against as in all formats of the game lol. :-))))))))

@Dr. Sehar Khan: You are talking totally irrelevent. Wasim Akram is expert in Cricket, so that what he can advise on.

@Arty: India played 6 T20 matches against Pakistan till date & won 5 of them.