If there’s anything on this God’s good earth where ‘merit’ doesn’t hold even an iota of value, it is the God-forsaken world of Pakistan Cricket. Nepotism, corruption and an aging whimsical and despotic administration all add up to form what is contemporary Pakistan cricket. Persistent political interference and the menace of ad-hocism in the Pakistan Cricket Board have contributed to its decay.
A sport that was once the pride of Pakistan has slumped to being a national and international disgrace and placed amongst the same league as heavily mutilated sports, hockey and squash . Not a day passes without any news of fresh controversies of internal bickering sprouting out of the dressing room and add to that the general dismal state of affairs being telecast on national TV and we have a cocktail of collective abandonment of national conscience. No where in the world of sport will you see players accused of being trouble makers and match fixers banned only to be reinstated with all the fanfare that one could only dream of in some distant land. And not to mention the complete humiliation meted out to a few honest and hard working players just because they are not in the good books (or servile enough) of the administration.
These players now find themselves at the altar of the whimsical attitude of the grubby old administrators and are running from pillar to post to know what crime they committed to find themselves in a position they are in. Two players of note, Yunis Khan and Mohammed Yousuf, who have formed the backbone of Pakistan’s test side and one credited for winning the 2009 T20 world cup title have been shown the door just because of personal differences with one of the PCB chairman’s head honchos in the present administrative setup. Players like Yunis Khan with an average of 50 in tests coupled with budding youngsters from the U/19 World Cup in New Zealand earlier this year have been sidelined on flimsy grounds of non-performance whereas mediocre tried and failed players like Shoaib Malik, the Akmal brother and Imran Farhat who have no performance under their names, suddenly find themselves back in the squad.
Some country! Merit has become a joke and nepotism, ‘the basic requirement’ when it comes to selection of the national side. The injection of young blood by the English team constituted the main difference between the formers’ brilliant performance and the shoddy performance by Pakistan in the recently concluded first test match in Nottingham. The repeated attempts by the PCB in trying out old and worn out players with disciplinary problems will only compound the decay of Pakistan cricket and the day is not far when even street cricket will soon bite the dust thus bringing an end to sports in the country. Merit and only merit can revive sports, particularly cricket in Pakistan, and nothing else. Are the people at the helm of affairs willing to take up this challenge and bring about a change? Certainly not! Only a competent young management with cricketing acumen can coax Pakistan cricket back to life. But will we ever see that happening in the near future? Absolutely and positively not! Especially, when the President of Pakistan happens to be the Patron in chief.
- Ali Mujtaba
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