By Hamad Hussain
KARACHI
(TheSportsNext) September 4, 2012: The cricket lovers in Pakistan have already
been deprived of international cricket at their home grounds and the recent humiliating
performances of national cricket team are adding more to the frustration.
Pakistan cricket team have lost three consecutive One Day
International series this year and this time the opponent was Australia which
won the three-match ODI series by 2-1 in the United Arab Emirates and kept
their unbeaten series winning record against Pakistan since last 10 years.
It was expected before the start of the series that Pakistan
may have advantage over Australia as it was believed that the chilled Aussie
players will struggle in the hot and warm weather of UAE but pathetic team
performance, hapless planning and poor team selection cost Pakistan another ODI
series this year which Pakistan could have won.
If we analyze the players’ selection in the last 10 months,
we will notice that we hardly have found a new hero or a rising star in 2012.
The credit for this ridiculous and humiliated team performance on international
circuit also goes to Iqbal Qasim-led selection committee which failed to induct
new blood into the team.
Once again, in crazy cricket loving population of over 180
million, selection committee failed to find new decent wicketkeeper and instead
of going forward, they once again stepped back to the one and only Kamran Akmal
to do the honors of dropping catches and missing stumpings behind the stumps for
Pakistan. Everyone has witnessed how improved his wicketkeeping was in the last
three matches against Australia as his love for Aussie cricketers started from
the same point where he left in the famous Sydney Test of January 2010. Aussie
cricketers will remember his generosity behind the stumps for the long time;
that is for sure.
Another Akmal and another flop! The selection committee and
Pakistan Cricket Board should have to answer and justify the continued
selection of Umar Akmal in the national team. It is hard to understand that how
many chances this man will get to destroy Pakistan cricket in future. Umar
Akmal may have the talent but he doesn’t have the class nor has the ability to
perform at the international level. He has already played 70 ODIs for Pakistan
apart from the 16 Test matches, but he still doesn’t know how to play and doesn’t
know anything about Shot-Selection.
I think there is a clear indication of rifts in the team as
team was divided into three-four groups as after Mohammad Hafeez was named as
skipper for T20s, there are players who are playing only for themselves and not
for the team.
(I will discuss Mohammad Hafeez as captain in some other
article because I also find a huge Question Mark on his abilities as Captain on
international level.)
The two prime examples of playing their own trumpets are
Muhammad Hafeez and Shahid Afridi. Both had very poor performances in ODIs
played this year as Hafeez has just managed to score a fifty in the last one
day international against Australia which was his only fifty in the last six
months. It is pertinent to mention here that Muhammad Hafeez isn’t a bowling
all-rounder and his bowling is his additional component but he has been getting
selected in the team for his bowling skills rather than batting.
I don’t think we need to discuss performance of Shahid
Afridi here. There is a big big big question mark on fitness of Shahid Afridi
and also his commitment with the team as he failed to impress and contribute in
the team’s performance in 2012. After spending 16 years on international arena,
Shahid Afridi is still a problem child in Pakistan cricket and instead of
presenting himself as an example for young players, his immature attitude is still
causing problems for the team management and the Pakistan cricket.
It’s time to induct new blood in the national cricket team
as young players like Asad Shafiq, Nasir Jamshed, Junaid Khan and Azhar Ali are
making their presence felt in the international level with their impressive
performances.
Pakistan cricket team need younger players like new talent
Muhammad Nawaz, Raza Hassan, Sami Aslam, Hammad Azam and others who surely deserve
a place in the international level.
It’s time to get rid of the old legs as they have played
enough cricket and Pakistan cricket needs new stars to shine on international
arena. The stage is perfectly set for the PCB to include young players in the
team and plan for World Cup 2015 as Dav Whatmore can polish and groom young
players and make them future stars of Pakistan but first PCB needs to kill
politics in the team by getting rid of senior and under-performing players who
are still in the team only because of their name and past performances.
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