Pakistan holds parliamentary hearings on defeat against India](Yahoo is part of the Yahoo family of brands.)
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - A Pakistani parliamentary committee opened an inquiry aimed at determining the reason for country’s first-ever home cricket defeat by India last month, an official said.
The standing committee of the Senate held its first session with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan, chief executive Ramiz Raja and chief selector Wasim Bari briefing it on why they thought Pakistan lost.
“Our defeats in the one-day and Test series to India are seen as disastrous by the media and common public so there is a need to address the problems in the country’s most popular sport,” committee chairman Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry told AFP on Saturday.
“In the next session we would invite former players and common public and then pass our recommendations to President Pervez Musharraf who is the patron of the PCB,” said Chaudhry, a senator from Bahawalnagar.
India capped their first tour across the border for 15 years with their maiden one-day and Test series wins on Pakistani soil last month.
The defeat sparked severe criticism over the Pakistani team’s management while players were accused of lacking discipline.
“Our players lacked discipline and the way they behaved on and off the field left a lot to be desired,” said Chaudhry.
The 13-member committee, which also included three women, asked variety of question ranging from the defeat to India to match fixing during a marathon three and a half hour session.
PCB chief executive Raja termed the discussion as healthy but disagreed that the defeat to India was disastrous.
“We need to have such discussions as cricket is one game which unites the nation and since it was a defeat against India people got emotional,” said Raja.
“We lost to a better team but we need to address some key areas to improve.”
Chief selector Bari said Pakistan needs specialised coaching.
“We need specialised coaching in bowling, fielding and physical training to overcome our lackings shown in the defeat against India,” Bari said.
Pakistan will have a chance to avenge themselves against India when they meet in the six-nation Asia Cup in Sri Lanka from July 16 to August 1.
Hosts Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and qualifiers Hong Kong and the UAE are the other teams.
Pakistan will then appear alongside India and world champions Australia in a tri-nation event in the Netherlands from August 20-27.
They then feature in the 12-nation ICC (International Cricket Council) Champions Trophy, playing hosts Zimbabwe for two Tests and five one-day matches before playing three Tests and a tri-nation series in Australia from December to February 2005.
Pakistan is also scheduled to tour India in March-April next year.