Ex-captain Younis Khan stress the need to strike right balance between red-ball and white-ball cricket
\n KARACHI
\nPakistan cricket must strengthen its grassroots and domestic structure to improve the national side\u2019s game at the international level, former and current cricketers and experts said on Sunday. The observations were made during Geo News\u2019 special panel discussion, Cricket Ka Muqadma, where current and former cricketers, PCB officials and experts debated the challenges, shortcomings and future direction of Pakistan cricket.
\nThe programme featured former captain Mohammad Hafeez, batting great Younis Khan, former Test captain Shan Masood, PCB official Aaqib Javed, and others who shared their views on key issues facing the sport.
\nThe discussion will explored the state of domestic cricket, proposed reforms and the direction of Pakistan cricket. Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) president Khalid Mahmood said school and college cricket must be prioritised to improve the standard of the game. He said there was now a growing trend among players to earn more money in a shorter period, adding that fast bowlers in the past regularly bowled 30 to 35 overs, whereas players today were no longer willing to put in that level of effort.
\nFormer chief selector Haroon Rasheed said grassroots cricket had been neglected and stressed that the game could not improve unless the role of departmental cricket was strengthened. He also called for better cricket infrastructure, saying pitches across the country must be improved.
\nFormer captain Younis Khan said Pakistan needed to strike the right balance between red-ball and white-ball cricket. He noted that the country\u2019s domestic cricket was once of a very high standard and Pakistan consistently ranked among the world\u2019s top five teams across all formats.
\nHe warned against blindly copying other countries\u2019 policies, saying Pakistan had forgotten its own identity, while adding that every player now wanted to play all formats of the game.
\nCricketer Fawad Alam said performance should remain the only criterion for selection and called for an end to favouritism in Pakistan cricket.
\nHe said a player who had established himself in Test cricket should have little difficulty adapting to One-Day Internationals and T20 cricket.
\nFawad questioned whether any notable player had emerged after departmental cricket was discontinued in 2006 and criticised the disparity in player payments, saying T20 fees were being increased while first-class cricket continued to be neglected.
\nHe also urged selectors to assess players based on the pitches and conditions in which they perform and recommended that selectors be required to attend first-class matches.
\nQuetta Gladiators owner Nadeem Omar said Pakistan would have to restore its previous cricket structure if it wanted to improve the game.
\nFormer captain Mohammad Hafeez said the stronger the foundation of Pakistan\u2019s red-ball cricket, the stronger the country\u2019s overall cricket would become.
\nTest captain Shan Masood said there was no format of the game greater than Test cricket.
\nJaved said that pacers with faster deliveries will be seen playing over the next four to five months.
\nRasheed, meanwhile, said that improvement would not come unless attention was paid to club and domestic cricket.
\nHe added that Pakistan would have to build a strong system at the grassroots level to ensure sustained progress.
\nRecalling his time as a selector, he said that when he picked Younis Khan for the Under-19 side, complaints were made against him alleging he had selected a player on recommendation.
\nFor his part, Khan said that teams also needed role models and noted that domestic pitches during the 1980s and 1990s were \u201cnothing like those in Australia\u201d.
\nHowever, Pakistan still produced fast bowlers during that period despite the conditions, he added.
\nAccording to the former captain, young cricketers now preferred playing T20 cricket but stressed the need to strike a balance between formats.
\nMasood said that a team has to take 20 wickets to win a Test match, which underlined the importance of having a strong bowling attack.
\nHe stressed the need to produce more fast bowlers and added that fitness protocols for players had been improved.
\nThe former Test captain said that Pakistan\u2019s bowlers tended to lose effectiveness on the third and fourth days of Test matches and expressed concern that tailenders had been scoring runs against the side. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ex-captain Younis Khan stress the need to strike right balance between red-ball and white-ball cricket KARACHI Pakistan cricket must strengthen its grassroots and domestic structure to improve the national side\u2019s game at the international level, former and current cricketers and experts said on Sunday. The observations were made during Geo News\u2019 special panel discussion, Cricket […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-557267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n