KARACHI: President of the International Cricket Council (ICC), Zaheer Abbas, said on Saturday that Pakistan cricket is lacking in professionalism when it comes to playing on the global stage and need to improve urgently.

Speaking to the media at the final of the KCCA President Cup at the National Stadium, the former Pakistan captain emphasised on bringing drastic changes in domestic cricket to bring it at par with the game in other countries.

“I think it won’t be appropriate to deplore the standard of our cricket in general. At the international level Pakistan are definitely in dire need of improvement. In recent times, the way we have played is just shameful. This is not the way we play,” Zaheer remarked. “The one key reason of this drawback is that there is a distinct lack of professionalism in our domestic set-up. This system is supposed to act as the breeding ground but it is not doing enough to uplift the standard of cricket compared to other nations.”

Zaheer further said whoever is picked as the head coach to fill the void left by Waqar Younis’ resignation will have a tough time lifting the national side’s performance. “I don’t think we need to really have a coach for the Pakistan team,” said Zaheer while commenting on the topic in a lighter vein. “But it won’t matter much whether the guy hired is a foreigner or one of our own. The mindset is the key and that has to change.”

“Whether we should have a foreigner as coach is something which can only be answered by the hiring authority. At this point in time, I don’t want to create any controversy by giving my opinion. Some people won’t like what I would say,” Zaheer said.

Zaheer said he won’t’be running after the post of PCB chairman when his tenure as the ICC president, a ceremonial assignment, ends this year.

“This is news for me because I’m hearing from you people that I’m in the run for PCB [chairman] post. I have just returned after the ICC World Twenty20 in India and have not been in touch with the politics of Pakistan cricket in the past couple of weeks,” said Zaheer. “Anyway, if you have any confirmation about this then please also let me know as well.”

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2016