Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain, has offered his services to help restore Pakistan’s status after their shocking exit from the World Cup in a three-wicket defeat against Ireland.
“I am ready to sit down with the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board [PCB] and see what we could do to bring the nation out of this cricketing crisis,” Imran said in a television programme.
Imran blamed captain Inzamam-ul-Haq for the debacle after Pakistan lost both their group matches - against the West Indies and Ireland - to become the first team to exit the World Cup.
“His captaincy was timid,” Imran said. “Inzamam himself said before the World Cup that he would bat at No.4, but when the tournament began he came out to bat at No.5. This built pressure on the team and we simply collapsed against medium-pace bowlers of Ireland,” he explained.
After the untimely death of the Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer, Imran advised the PCB to bring in two coaches - one for the bowlers and other for batsmen.
“I would suggest Aaqib Javed should be the bowling coach because he had coached Pakistan to win two Under-19 World Cups,” Imran suggested. He added, without offering any names, that the PCB also should look for a good batting coach.
Imran backed Younis Khan as the future captain. “It’s not the time to take drastic measures,” he said.
Domestic cricket, in Imran’s opinion, also had to be streamlined in the manner in which domestic competitions were run in Australia and South Africa. “I have played in Sheffield Shield and I know they have the best system of just six teams in first-class cricket,” Imran said. “That’s the only way we could also produce quality cricketers,” he explained.
Re: Imran Khan offers to help Pakistan out of its mess...
only option left for Pakistan Cricket future...
BUT
SITTING DOWN with the committee and analyzing the events and preparing a report is not going to help much. Unless khan sahib takes charge for an interim period (and I mean REALLY TAKE CHARGE) things are not going to improve.
Lets be realistic, a retired Gen. appointed by Mushy (as there were some rumors already flaoting in the market) is not going to bow his head and take notes from Imran and then follow instructions.
Re: Imran Khan offers to help Pakistan out of its mess...
I Always appericiate Imran Khan Suggestions Becoz hes our Hero Of the Worldcup1992, He Knows cricket well then everyone else in Pakistan His ideas always are great. I think Imran Khan should be the Chairman of the Selection Committee...? as far as the bowling coach is concern, personally i like Waqar Younis... Becoz he the Master of Reverse Swing ... He could be a good bowling coach... But we have already disrespected him..... Aqib is not that bad too
Re: Imran Khan offers to help Pakistan out of its mess...
I agree with Uncle Stalker. Imran's suggestion alone wont do any good, he has been giving suggestions for a while now. We need Khan Sahib to take over for a short period and get the ball rolling in the right direction. It would only take a few months so it's not going to kill his political movement. On the contrary if he puts Pakistan cricket in the right direction his vote bank might increase.
Bascially he can take over and right a constitution for PCB that the past boards have failed to do so. Then organise local body elections and the chairman should be elected not selected. Once we have those in place we can work towards setting up the domestic structure. The idea of 6 teams sounds fine as we barely have enough good ones for one team so 6 would give more then enough players a chance to prove their worth., Pay them good money though. Our bowlers are fine we need our batsmen to play those bowlers to improve. Our bowlers go to England to play county if we can keep them here they will help our batsman. Also every team should be allowed ot have one over sea's player. That way we can also have some international players coming over to play domestic cricket, that would also raise the standards.
Re: Imran Khan offers to help Pakistan out of its mess…
there used to be a national cricket championship, I don’t know whats the status now. I do remember the PIA Colts, that was a very good team and produced many players of international standards.
We need a Pyramid, slanting down towards a broad base and the cream sitting at the top, which can only climb upwards after passing through a system of tough competition and filters of the lower levels. This way we can ensure transparency. This top talent at the tip of the pyramid is where we pick our national team from. Quite unlike Imran or Wasim akram driving around in their car, through the galli mohallaa, before a major world class event - Talent Hunting…
We can have a national championship (say 16 teams to start with, 4 x provincial teams, major organizations (banks, PIA, WAPDA etc. ), and then maybe some representation from the College / University teams (minnows )
Provincial teams would be picked from the city cricket teams, and for God’s sake quit this Karachi blue, Karachi green, Karachi off white, Lahore light yellow… Looks like anyone with 11 friends and a kit bag can make a team and play first class cricket… This has to be regularized. Only a group of 11 to represent a city. In order to make it to that 11, you can have a Lower level of competition where counties (districts) and various clubs can have their own cricketing battles.
We need qualified coaches at all levels, how many institutions do we have in Pakistan that can provide some training platform for the coaches themselves ? We need to spare a thought about this too. A genuine institution where the coaches can be coached…
And we need to invest some money into developing some first class level grounds too
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