LAHORE: While admitting the responsibility for the Pakistan’s pathetic performance in the recently-held U-19 Asia Cup, director of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) Mudassar Nazar on Thursday said lack of quality batsmen in the team was one of the prime reasons for the debacle.

Pakistan, placed in group ‘B’ alongside Bangladesh, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, exited the eight-nation junior continental event staged in Bangladesh from Sept 29 to Oct 7 in the first round. Pakistan U-19s, led by wicket-keeper Rohail Nazir, lost to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the group stage while only winning against minnows Hong Kong. Against Bangladesh at Chittagong, Pakistan posted a modest 187 all out to lose by three wickets while against Sri Lanka at the same venue, Rohail and company failed to chase down a gettable 201 and fell short by 23 runs.

Indian U-19s, in group ‘A’ with Afghanistan, Nepal and the UAE, went on to claim the title beating Sri Lanka by a whopping 144 runs in the final.

Mudassar says U-19 Asia Cup flop to be probed

India’s senior team meanwhile won the Asia Cup edging Bangladesh in the final at Dubai.

“Obviously, we all are responsible [for this defeat in the U-19 Asia Cup] and a thorough discussion will be held soon to determine the main reasons behind such a poor performance,” the 62-year-old Mudassar said, during an exclusive interview to Dawn on Thursday, on who was responsible for Pakistan’s debacle at the event.

“We have good pacers at the junior level but the team lacks quality batsmen and that is our main area of concern,” the former Pakistan all-rounder who featured in 76 Tests and 122 ODIs from 1976 to 1989, added.

Asked if the National Cricket Academy (NCA) which had been holding U-13 and U-16 events at the national level, had any role in selecting the junior squad, Mudassar said, “No we have no role as the junior selection committee [headed by Basit Ali] is responsible for the selection.”

Meanwhile, to a question Mudassar admitted that there was a lack of coordination between the country’s regional cricket bodies and the NCA, noting “both sides have reservations and complaints against each other”. He, however, said that he would welcome all regions to come forward and inform him about their problems, adding that “a joint sitting with the regional bodies can be helpful in reducing the coordination gap between them and the NCA”.

When highlighted that two representatives of the PCB along with one from the region select regional teams for all national competitions, yet no one was ready to take the responsibility for any bad performance of a particular region in national events, Mudassar agreed that instead of taking the responsibility all had started blame game.

“Personally, I have no objection if the regional bodies pick their teams on their own but the existing system is in practice before I joined the NCA,” he clarified.

However, Mudassar agreed that a number of complaints had also been registered in the past when regional bodies wholly were selecting their teams. Therefore, he reckoned, the present system was somewhat the middle way out.

Asked to apprise of the NCA activities, Mudassar said he wanted to establish academies in all 16 regions, which should remain functional throughout the year.

“The entire programme with its estimated budget has already been approved but some more steps have to be taken for the final go-ahead,” he said.

“The NCA has been organising three-month academies at regional level, which is not enough. Rather this activity should continue throughout the year, which happens in India. When our players receive training under NCA coaches throughout the year they will be in good shape to compete at international level.”

Furthermore, Mudassar said, the NCA was going to hold eight different programmes including some tournaments and training camps for U-16 and U-13 boys from Oct 23 to Jan 26.

Besides this, he said, Level-I coaching courses in Abbottabad, Faisalabad and Karachi would also be held from Nov 1 to 4.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2018