SHAFAQNA PAKISTAN (Shia News Agency)
It seems that Pakistan cricket team has finally learnt from its mistakes and ready to steal the show. After two comprehensive defeats and a generally unconvincing performance in the last four matches, Pakistan’s bowlers put in a sterling performance to drag Pakistan’s World Cup campaign back on track – living up to the oft repeated title of ‘unpredictable’.
Despite the title, there is a method to the madness; the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) constantly reshuffled its line-up in an attempt to find the right combination. Intense public criticism finally got through to the PCB, which had so far shut its ears to all suggestions. Sarfaraz Ahmed came in the squad in the place of the hapless Nasir Jamshed, and immediately repaid the confidence in him with a match winning performance. Sarfaraz took six catches in the match, most by a Pakistani wicketkeeper, and hit a crucial run a ball for 49 runs. Had Sarfaraz kept the wickets in the previous matches, they would have been much closer events, considering how the team has collectively dropped numerous catches. While this victory will inject a confidence boost and signal match winning capacity, woes still remain for team Pakistan. Apart for the consistent skipper, the batting line-up once again failed to click in, a fact that will be the deciding factor in tougher matches.
The title unpredictable reveals one thing quite clearly; while the Pakistan teams have immense potential to win any match, the national cricket board, whose job it is to convert talent into consistency, fails to deliver. But unfortunately PCB has consistently failed because of rampant corruption and nepotism. PCB has been marred with all the evils that include corrupt officials who lack even professionalism and chose the players not on their performance but on their approaches. Whether Pakistan lifts the world cup or loses in the very next phase, there is a dire need to fully revamp the PCB. Because It was a PCB selection committee, which denied a talented cricketer like Tahir, a chance to perform in national team, which forced him to migrate to South Africa, where he was selected on merit. Players like Irfan were not accommodated, till such time that PCB had lost Mohammad Amir, because he came from a humble background and had no relatives to recommend him. It is poor selection, bad coaching, gross indiscipline and grouping within the team, which is responsible for the debacles that national team is suffering in World Cup. Pakistan neither has financial clout, which India has, nor a capable management to afford tainted former players and selectors within PCB. It seems no lessons have been learned, because almost everybody whom Justice Qayuum named has become a favorite choice for assignments in PCB.
pakistan.shafaqna.com
