Ad-Hocism in PCB has ruined Pak Cricket: Arif Abbasi

KARACHI:

“The Ad-Hocism prevalent in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for nearly 25 years has destroyed the game in the country while no efforts have been made to develop cricket on scientific lines or groom the players to excel in the modern-day game.

This was stated by former PCB Chairman and seasoned bureaucrat Arif Ali Khan Abbasi while exclusively speaking to Telecom Asia Sport (www.telecomasia.net) on Friday.

Abbasi, a visionary and one of the most brilliant PCB Chairmen who successfully brought the ICC Cricket World Cups to Pakistan in 1987 and 1996 in joint collaboration with Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) in India, is pained by the current state of the game in the country.

“Look what our team has done in the Champions Trophy,” said Abbasi, looking clearly dejected with Pakistan’s group stage ouster. “It was such a golden opportunity for the PCB and the national team to showcase top class cricket. This mega ICC event was crucial for us since all the top teams are competing here and the fans and experts from all around the world have converged in the country. But we have made a hash of it all by falling at the first hurdle.”

Recalling the glory days of Pakistan Cricket during his tenure, Abbasi said: “Pakistan was among the top three teams in the world then and we won most of our matches. We had a number of outstanding players in our team such as Javed Miandad, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Abdul Qadir and many others, who had a great stature and enjoyed a lot of respect in world cricket.”

“I feel so hurt to see that Pakistan is placed last in world cricket today as a team and we have no match-winners in the national side,” Abbasi told telecomasia.net.

Recalling the PCB’s magnificent achievement of bringing the ICC World Cup to the Sub-continent, Abbasi said: “Can you imagine Pakistan and India jointly hosting a World Cup today? But we pulled it off, not just once but twice, because there were great men and my dear friends Jagmohan Dalmiya and I S Bindra associated with the BCCI at the time and we operated on the same wave length.”

“Together we snatched the World Cup from England who hosted the mega event in 1975, ’79 and ’83. The ICC were compelled to give Pak-India the hosting rights because our bid was so impactful and attractive,” said Abbasi.

Outlining the reasons for Pakistan Cricket’s rapid decline during the past two decades, Abbasi said Ad-Hocism coupled with a poor domestic cricket structure and nepotism have ruined the game.

“When you have hand-picked PCB chairmen who get politically appointed and have no understanding of the game, how do you expect cricket to thrive,” asked Abbasi .

“All those who have been at the helm in Pakistan Cricket over the past 30 years have tinkered with the domestic cricket structure in their respective terms as chairmen and have literally made a joke out of the domestic cricket structure.”

“Back in 1970s, 80 and 90s, we produced top class players from our domestic cricket, so there was no reason to alter that. Even the club cricket was so strong in those days and produced fantastic players,” reminisced Abbasi. “But regretfully, almost every PCB head during the past two decades have tampered with the system and we are paying a heavy price for that today,” observed Abbasi.

“The Pakistani nation is crazy about cricket and finds solace and excitement in the game which unites them like no other force. Unfortunately, we have deprived the fans of that flavour and quality in our cricket and they obviously feel cheated now.”

When asked why in his opinion as India gone far ahead of Pakistan in cricket, Abbasi said they sincerely worked at developing the game and never tinkered with their domestic set up.

“India established many cricket academies several years ago, in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi, which have contributed greatly in the grooming of their players,” said Abbasi. “Their domestic structure is so well-entrenched, with Ranji Trophy and Duleep Trophy still their premier tournaments. They comprise four-day cricket and have a very high standard where it is mandatory for all the players to compete.

“Here in Pakistan, we have only one state-of-the-art academy, the National Cricket Academy of the PCB, which you know is so under-utilised and poorly managed. No grooming of the players is done there despite the world class facilities available in NCA,” lamented Abbasi. Telecomasia.net