Inconsistency in decision-making has made a mockery of Pakistan cricket
CRICKET in Pakistan, as in most of the South Asian countries, is a matter of life and death. Nothing excites more passion and emotion among the people of this region than seeing Shoaib Akhtar bowl or Tendulkar and Jaisurya bat (depending on whose side you are on). The mood of the nation swings with the fortunes of the team. A victory makes the public euphoric, while a defeat is catastrophic.
Starved of entertainment and deprived of celebrations, the public hangs on every single match, shot, happening, to centre their attention, conversation and emotion on. With such intense electronic coverage and emotional focus on this game it is but natural that this game in recent years has obtained international limelight due to its ability to form public opinion and attract financial resources.
In a country like Pakistan this combination, i.e., media attention and financial resources, has a magnetic attraction for corruption and deception. The embedded values of nepotism and individualism have somehow been impossible to uproot for every management that has taken hold of PCB affairs, with the result that Pakistan, despite having one of the most talented teams in the world, was shamefully chucked out of the World Cup last year.
PCB has definitely been suffering from the SPS (Structural Politicization Syndrome). Every few years the PCB top management is changed on allegations of mismanagement and corruption, and a new management is appointed, which, of course contains almost the same names who were once fired for the same reasons. The present PCB Chairman, Mr Shahryar Khan, was the manager of the team last year which put up the worst performance ever in the World Cup. And yet the President of Pakistan, somehow impressed by his management performance, decided to promote him by awarding him the top rank in the organization!
The same story goes for the Selection Committee which has had a revolving door policy of bringing back the same people who were shown the door earlier on.
Every management committee blatantly tries to promote their sons and relatives in the team, misuses their office for personal gains and is involved in kickbacks and corruption scandals. Already a row is developing between a private channel and PTV over television rights for the forthcoming series between Pakistan and India, and that too despite having almost a brand new management team which was appointed precisely to prevent any such mishaps.
Such a mess is hard to replicate. In India we have seen a stability in their structure and strategy after the arrival of Mr Dalmiya whose business like and professional approach has changed the fortunes of Indian cricket.
If the Indian Cricket Board and its cricketers are reckoned to be the richest among their ilk and Indian cricket team unlike Pakistan manages to get five or six-Test series on foreign tours, then due credit must go to a certain wealthy businessman from Kolkata.
Like him or hate him, you just cannot ignore Dalmiya who was once considered as a maverick and a gate-crasher by the hoity-toity members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) who just could not digest the fact that an Asian could chart a route map that brought millions pouring into the game, something that the ICC had perviously failed to do.
His election to the top post in world of cricket in 1997 was as sensational a development. Dalmiya showed plenty of gumption in taking on the full might of the ICC and gate-crashing into the once all-white party. In a sense, he showed that the Asians had the ability and capacity to head a global body like the ICC. Before that, he ensured that India became a cash-cow of international cricket, and, as always, money spoke.
To give the devil its due, one must salute Dalmiya for initiating change in Indian cricket and making it a high-profile sport that attracted untold millions of rupees by way of sponsorship and television rights.
In the early 90s, Dalmiya forged a great partnership with Bindra. They complemented one another brilliantly.
After he fell out with Bindra, Dalmiya set his sights on television rights. He realized that the monolith of Doordarshan was a hindrance, and to break the monopoly, he brought in WorldTel in 1996. It was the start of a renaissance of Indian cricket. BCCI coffers swelled by the day and if today, they can function independent of doles from the government, then the Board is only enjoying the harvest.
Conversely the cash-rich Board structured age-group cricket, and representative teams were sent abroad on exposure tours, hired experts from marketing and cricketing world all over the world, hired specialist coaches for every department, and really tried to build up a talent reservoir in India. This dynamic effort threw up quite a few talented youngsters who have since gone to carve a niche for themselves at the higher level.
Overall there has been a definitive improvement in Indian cricket. Dalmiya may retire from the Board a year from now, but then he has done enough for Indian cricket by way of financial health and set high administrative bench marks for his successors to match. Thus what PCB needs is a smart and dynamic businessmen to head it, rather than autocratic technocrats and apologetic diplomats.
THE INTERNATIONAL CRICKETING PARADOX: While the popularity of cricket has increased manifold in the world due to the live telecast of matches and due to the amount of money pouring in the game, the game itself has suffered in terms of standards and entertainment value.
While the era of the 70’s and 80’s belonged to the West Indies, the era of 90’s belonged to the Australians who introduced a unique brand of professionalism and discipline in every department of the game which made them look almost invincible. However, the Australian dominance for nearly a decade had made cricket a little dull and one sided.
With cricket ties between India and Pakistan suspended, West Indies declining, and Australia too hard to beat, cricket went through an excitement famine. But in the last one year, Australia has become more beatable, and with the prospect of a India-Pakistan series just round the corner, things should look more exciting for cricket fans.
However there are other issues as well. In 2003 a century of centuries took place. Batsmen all around the world hit as many as 100 centuries and almost one-third of them were scores of over 150 indicating the complete dominance of batting over bowling. But in the first 15 days of this year alone, sixteen centuries have been hit. Of course good stroke play is a cricketing delight, but team scores of 500 plus have become the norm rather than the exception, and teams being forced into declarations to get results of matches, is stuff where you would rather like to see the highlights in news on TV than go through the agony of witnessing the monotonous thrashing of the bowlers.
The reason for this almost ludicrous dominance of batsmen maybe attributable to the laws made by ICC and a sudden dearth of class bowlers in the world.
As the West Indian fast bowlers became unplayable in the 80s, we saw a limit on the number of bouncers being bowled and the No-Ball rule being made more stringent thus creating psychological pressure on the bowlers.
In the 90’s it was the reverse swinging pitchers of Waseem and Waqar which made the batsmen appear to be paralyzed and easy victims of LBWs. Again, we see a change in the LBW law which has blunted a lot of the reverse-swing of our bowlers.
Another reason for this run scoring feast is the dearth of class bowlers in the world at the moment. Pakistan has the best bowling side in the world with the 3 S’ i.e Shoaib, Sami, and Shabbir. Unfortunately the politics in PCB has prevented them from proving their worth.
Are we always going to be termed as a team of extremely talented individuals but little performance? Are we always going to see OSD army officers and diplomats dominating the top brass of PCB?
As is normal with every new management the present set-up of PCB has also sacked the earlier culprits and have promised to induct seven new General Managers in order to restructure PCB on professional lines. Will more managers increase bureaucracy or efficiency? But if the Punjab Government has upsized by having a record 41 ministers in its cabinet, PCB can still claim prudence and due diligence in its management and performance.
Inconsistency in decision-making has made a mockery of Pakistan cricket 
