Pakistan has been considered among the most potent cricketing nations in the world. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was ranked amongst the best sides along with the West Indies. The 1990s were the prime of Pakistani cricket where it was seen competing for the top crown against the Australians mainly on the strength of its bowling attack. Many argue that Pakistan’s bowling attack in the 1990s was the most lethal bowling attack ever. It was a bowling attack that could make small targets impossible to chase for opponents and could claw away victory from the jaws of defeat in the span of a couple of overs.
Pakistan’s cricket started gloriously. It became the first nation to win a test match against all test-playing nations in its first respective series against them. The likes of Hanif and Fazal made it to the top of cricketing greats soon after the country’s entry into international cricket. The 1970s saw Pakistani cricket moving from potent to glamorous and a lot can be attributed to the limelight that fast bowlers got. Imran Khan became the first Pakistani bowler to make it to the ultrafast brigade of the 1970s, joining West Indian pacers and the likes of Lillee and Thomson. But what the pair of Imran and Sarfaraz had was this unique ability to swing the cricket ball, old and new alike. They became the pioneers of reverse swing and Pakistan, which was considered a team of batsmen usually playing for draws, became a team throwing dancing cherries, going for the kill. It is this, coupled with the aggressive stroke play of the likes of Majid, Zaheer, Miandad and Wasim Raja, that made Pakistan the most dreaded team by the mighty West Indians then.
This aggression of Pakistani cricket came with the glamour of Imran Khan. Nothing has changed the face of Pakistan’s cricket more than this. In a country where every aspiring cricketer wanted to be a batter (even Imran himself when he was aspiring), suddenly there was a mad rush to become a fast bowler and thus came the era of dominance in pace. One can safely say that no cricketing nation has come up with such express pacers of class in continuity more than Pakistan has, not even the West Indies. Riding on the popularity of cricket, raw talent and pace frenzy, Pakistan kept marching on to become one of the key players in the cricketing arena.
But then came the declining 2000s. A dominant cricketing nation that had played more world cup semifinals than any other nation till 1999 failed to qualify for the quarterfinal stage in 2003 and 2007. Batting, where the reliability especially on green tops had always been a concern, became totally unreliable and would collapse more often than not. There came a time after Wasim and Waqar’s retirement when it seemed that with Shoaib Akhter’s retirement the pace attack of Pakistan would die (though the drought ended and quality pacers are emerging once again). After that Pakistan’s cricket was marred by one controversy after another from spot fixing to attacks on first the Kiwi and then Sri Lankan teams, leading to an end of any international cricket in Pakistan. Pakistani cricket has not been able to recover completely from that gloom yet.
Terrorism, and thus no international cricket, is beyond anyone’s control. And yet there are problems that are self-created. For one, Pakistani cricket lacks basic structure and any structure that it had has collapsed ever since Imran’s years. Imran’s dominance and glamour made anybody and everybody else look irrelevant. That, of course, led to a whole generation of talented cricketers and Imran, being a great cricketing mind, brought glory to Pakistani cricket. However, this structure-less model could not work when it was handed down to lesser beings. Thus started the power grabs between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials and cricketers. Rather than focusing on improving the cricketing infrastructure in Pakistan, the board seemed fixated on undermining the players’ power and captains like Wasim Akram, who had the potential to be the next Imran.
Then, of course, the sheer cronyism in the cricket board makes matters worse. Nawaz Sharif bestowed the board on the likes of Nasim Hassan Shah, Mujibur Rehman and Najam Sethi as a favour or gratitude. General Musharraf would oblige his fellow Corps Commander Tauqeer Zia or his US doctor friend Nasim Ashraf. Asif Zardari would have Zaka Ashraf. With no knowledge of the game, they would rope in advisers to run the PCB without understanding the political dynamics of Pakistani cricket. So a team with Wasim Akram at its helm would have to deal with a board comprising of Aamir Sohail or Rameez Raja and, in typical Pakistani style, egos were decisive and in the process, Pakistan’s cricket suffered.
Then came this issue of going beyond unstructured, raw talent. What the Pakistani team lacks most is mental strength. This strength is a function of grooming and a competitive environment. With school cricket destroyed, youngsters lack this basic grooming and competitiveness. Thus, they play dull domestic cricket, making it to international cricket and there, at the first application of pressure, they fail. India faced the same issues till the 1990s and has dealt with them with a two-pronged approach of academies for grooming scouted talent and improvements in domestic cricket. I fail to understand why we have not.
Yes, we cannot make international teams visit Pakistan because of terrorism but what is stopping us from having a half decent domestic cricket league that can draw in crowds? In a corporate rush towards promotions, even the school debating circuit gets millions in sponsorships each year. Why can the PCB not come up with a decent domestic calendar?
I believe strongly that more than anything else it is our decline in cricket that has caused our defeatist national psyche. We have to change that but the cronies who are handed the board as the return of a favour cannot do it. We have tried MBAs, doctors, generals, spin-doctors and contractors; it is time to hand our cricket back to some sane cricketing brains.
The author can be reached on twitter at @aalimalik