‘Fresh’ start

With just a little more than two months left in the start of the ninth edition of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, Pakistan cricket has pushed the restart button. Under new PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the country’s interior minister, Pakistan cricket has experienced several changes in recent weeks and is likely to undergo more at a time when the national team should have been putting the final touches to its preparations for the T20 World Cup to be jointly hosted by the United States and the West Indies from June 1 to 29.

Winners of the 2009 T20 World Cup in England, Pakistan will be hoping to regain the coveted crown in the US and Caribbean where an expanded 20-team contest will be staged this summer. However, things haven’t been going Pakistan’s way, not even in the shortest format of the game in which they have traditionally flourished in the past. Under new captain Shaheen Afridi, Pakistan flopped in their last T20 series in New Zealand, losing 1-4. Afridi might not retain the team’s captaincy when Pakistan hosts the Black Caps in a return T20 series in Lahore and Rawalpindi next month following his failure as captain of Lahore Qalandars in the ninth season of the PSL. There is a lot of uncertainty about Shaheen’s future as captain with the trio of former captain Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shadab Khan touted as top candidates for the post in the lead-up to the home series against New Zealand and the World Cup. Babar was forced to step down as captain after Pakistan flopped at the 50-over World Cup in India last year. The then coach Mickey Arthur was also shown the door and has not been replaced.

In the meantime, Naqvi has recently reshaped the national selection committee, hoping that it will help in the campaign to resurrect the underperforming national team. Former cricketers including Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Yousuf, Wahab Riaz and Asad Shafiq are part of the seven-man selection committee. There was some controversy when Bilal Afzal, a former caretaker minister of Punjab, was added to the committee as its data analyst. There was also criticism when the PCB recalled the ‘retired’ duo of all-rounder Imad Wasim and pacer Mohammad Amir, including them in a 27-man preliminary squad for the T20 World Cup. The decision was taken on the basis of the duo’s impressive showing in the PSL. However, critics say that it will send the wrong message to those younger players who have been doing well in domestic cricket. In a nutshell, things are once again far from perfect for Pakistan in a World Cup year. It is really important that the PCB quickly puts an end to all the uncertainty by announcing the captain, head coach, and coaching staff. All decisions should be made on merit and aimed at making the national team better. Over the years, several past PCB chiefs have similarly enforced new starts with little or no success. For the sake of Pakistan cricket one hopes that this one will not turn out to be yet another false start.