A very relevant article:
[PCB chief, critics must keep
faith in Pak team for good results
COLOMBO: One can excuse coach Bob Woolmer for wondering where he has left his magic wand and for captain Inzamam-ul-Haq to be upset that his team has lacked discipline on and off the field following the defeat to Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup.
But just one defeat has resulted in the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Shaharyar Khan giving an unnecessary statement that nothing has changed in the team’s performance since the home series loss to India and questions have been raised over the behaviour and discipline of the team members in Colombo.
Well, these things perhaps are the hazards of being part of Pakistan cricket where patience is in low quantity and everyone expects instant results.
However, while one can understand the queries about the players’ discipline and behaviour because traditionally in our cricket set-up a bad performance is invariably linked to a late night out and immoral behaviour, it is Shaharyar’s statement to the national media back home that has come as a surprise.
His describing the wins over Bangladesh and Hong Kong as ‘worthless’ also have not left many people happy here and Woolmer is probably among them.
To expect the new coach to turn around the team’s performances and attitude in just a matter of three weeks is like asking for the moon and like the PCB Chief Executive Rameez Raja said here the other day, patience is needed now for the results to show. And if the Chairman is not going to back the new coach and his team, then Pakistan cricket is headed for another regrettable end to a meaningful experiment.
The Board had also indulged in such statement mongering after the loss to India and it cost Javed Miandad his job and led to a pointless row with fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar.
So it would be advisable for the PCB Chairman to worry about answering queries from the Senate and trying to improve the administrative set up of the Board and leave the cricket matters to technocrats like Woolmer and others.
Rest assured, things are fine here within the team albeit the minor communication/language problems between the coach and his players do exist. A key factor, however, is that Inzamam is yet to realise that he has to be a more demonstrative team leader.
**The players are clearly trying to adapt to the changed conditions in the team and a new system that is going to take time to start showing results. But everyone is trying hard. The long net sessions like the one players had this morning, the video-analysis sessions, the cricket oriented fitness sessions created for the players, the team meetings and dinners to increase the bonding and spirit in the side are all there and the target apparently on part of the coach appears to be to toughen up the boys mentally and physically as a team to meet the rigours of international cricket on a consistent basis.
Shoaib Akhtar for long considered the ‘enfant terrible’ of Pakistan cricket, has made it a point to attend all the team meetings, analysis sessions and net sessions and be part of a team and not behave like an individual superstar. He has spent lot of time with trainer Murray Stevenson on the beaches opposite the team hotel toughening up his muscles and improving his stamina.**
All these are positive signs and if the patience is there the results are bound to show but one can’t expect the thinking of a team to change overnight and it is best if everyone remained prepared to accept that Pakistan go into Sunday’s match against India as the underdogs.
Even teams like Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa, etc didn’t get instantly to where they are today. They stumbled and blundered a lot and it took time before they settled down with their coaches and captains.
And rest assured Pakistan will never find itself in the position that the West Indies or Bangladesh find themselves in today because the talent and passion for cricket back home is incomparable to any other country.
or knew cricket back in 80s and early 90s (which can be called as Golden Era of Pakistani cricket) then his investment would have been worth. For last 6 years Pakistani cricket fans are mostly disappointed because of internal politics, inconsistency in players, lack of interest, big mouting and haramipun of thugs like Akhtar, match fixing alligations etc etc. These have resulted in poor performance of the team over all and some historically humiliating moments for the nation. WC 99 final+BD matches and WC03 shaandaar laanti performance are a few to name here.
