5 Lessons from Zimbabwe Tour for Pakistan

5 Lessons from Zimbabwe Tour for Pakistan

Everyone thought Pakistan tour of Zimbabwe would be a piece of cake, until Pakistan got the beating in the first Odi then followed by a Test loss which resulted in Pakistan dropping  to spot 6 from 4th in test ranking before taking on the mighty South Africans in UAE. Much of the assumptions were based on after how the young Indian side led by Virat Kohli whitewashed Zimbabwe in ODI’s. Pakistan Cricket has been on decline due to several factors which are known to everyone but comparatively doing better if compared to other sports or Pakistan’s National sport hockey. Loss or win, the connection and love of fans with cricket is as strong as it used to be back in the times of Imran, Wasim, Waqar and Inzamam. The test loss to Zimbabwe is an eye opener for Pakistan Cricket Management and selection committee to review few things which are hurting Pakistan Cricket a lot for a long time now. The 5 strong factors which are contributing towards the downfall of Pakistan Cricket are.

Need of different teams for different formats:

One of the main reasons of Pakistan decline is the fragile batting Pakistan carries. This issue has been around a time now but nothing much has been done .Pakistani opening problem is something which has not been cured from years now after the departure of left handed combination of Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail.  Some players are getting chances in every format despite not having the right temperament to play in certain formats whereas some players are just sidelined without any concrete reasons. Muhammnad Hafeez is a prime example of someone who despite suffering from an awful form in test cricket is getting continuous chances. Management needs to make sure that they pick right players for the format they are best suited for. Teams like India, England and South Africa are prime examples who have separate teams for different formats and there ranking shows the effectiveness of it. Very few players justify places in all three formats, and it is the job of the management to provide a suitable selection for the team.

Batting Coach:

Pakistan needs a permanent batting coach.  It is hard to imagine that a team who has been suffering in batting unit don’t have a batting coach. Pakistan is in a need of a batting coach desperately who can walk through the players and nurture them further. Temporary coaches or consultants are not doing any good. If Pakistan have to see improvement in batting department, then the need of batting coach is a must. Pakistan was exposed completely in South Africa on the seamy and turning pitches against the likes of Steyn, Philander and Morkel because of the weak technique they carried. Pakistan needs to keep in mind that they will be playing the 2015 world cup in Australia and New Zealand which will be a testing period for a batting line up as Pakistan.

Proper chances:

Players need to be ensured that one or two failures will not put a question mark on their careers. The tradition of dropping a player after one failure is not something new in Pakistan Cricket. Until players won’t feel at ease, they can’t play in the natural manner of their own. Greats like Younus Khan ,Misbah-Ul-Haq, Saeed Ajmal and Shahid Afridi don’t have much of cricket left , so it is a high time that management select the players who are going to be the future of team for at least the next 6-8 years. It is only possible if players are given proper chances on long runs in the presence of seniors who are not going to be around for a very long time.

Stop Political Influence:

The title is enough to hint that what needs to be stopped immediately. Depoliticise cricket or any sports from politics. In a country where the president has a free will to choose a person to govern a sports body does not make any sense. Until and unless management and think tanks are under the influence of political body, one can’t think of any positive changes. Involving politics in sports is just going to ruin it more and more.  Pakistan Cricket Board people who understand cricket and know how to govern it and can make changes without the fear of anyone.

 Strengthening relations between India and Pakistan Cricket Boards:

Pakistan and India, a relation like Tom and Jerry. Cricket has to suffer the most whenever tension arises between both these countries. Both countries have no problem when the singers are singing in each other countries, acting in movies together at both sides across the border, or sharing any other platform in front of the world. Greats like Imran Khan, Kapil Dev, and Sunil Gavaskar always emphasized that their cricket improved when they played against each other.  They had more pressure and that made them do well and was beneficial for the future success. Pakistani new cricketers have not had much exposure to such situations and that is why they tend to fail in pressure situations. On top, having no cricket at home has dented the already bad situation into much worst. For the revival of quality cricket, Pakistan needs to strengthen the relation with Indian Cricket Board because it is the need of present Pakistan Cricket than Indian.

Pakistan has a lot of cricket coming up.  Pakistan will be hosting South Africa and Sri Lanka in UAE this year followed by events like Asia Cup and T20 2014 WC. Pakistan needs to take some serious step in order to bring cricket where it was. As a powerhouse of cricket and arguably the second biggest cricket supporting country, Pakistan is very important to world cricket and world cricket to Pakistan. Wake up PCB, before it is too late. World crickets wants to see another Imran, Wasim, Shoaib and Afridi.