Bad politics can destroy cricket

I am writing this analysis irrespective of the outcome of the most crucial Pakistan-India match because if we win, we will forget the shortcomings. And if we lose, everyone would be criticising the team. Let’s pray for our “shaheens” to win and make a dream start of this World Cup. But in a related development, it’s good that the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to wish both teams “good luck.” I wish the Indians would not have linked “cricketing ties” with politics. Cricket diplomacy has played a role in improving relations between the two countries.
Pak-India series in the UAE later this year would be a test for the two governments, particularly for the BJP government. Surprisingly, even the Bangladesh government has also involved politics though it was Pakistan, which played the key role in getting Bangladesh the test status.Politics in cricket has damage the game. At least, I can say this for Pakistan, which is my theme of today’s analysis.
In the last 67 years, there have been more “revolts” against successive captains than against the governments. The latest is what former captain Mohammad Hafiz has hinted at after his return from Australia due to “injury” and was replaced by Nasir Jamsehd. His statement indicates “all is not well” in the dressing room.
So, we are going to see the outburst, in case we returned from the World Cup without reaching the Semi Final. But, if luckily, we reached the semis and then to the final, which looks difficult like in 1992, there will be no postmortem.
Captain Misbahul Haq remained under pressure till he was finally made the skipper till the World Cup six months back. So, we were not even sure who would lead the team till he silences his critics by equaling the record of Sir Viv Richard of the fastest century, though in the test. How could you expect the team to perform well when half of the team are not sure of their own selection?
There is a big list of outstanding cricketers including former captains, whose career ended in a premature manner because of politics, both from outside and within the cricketing board. Every cricket loving nations picked cricketers from “schools” but we picked them when they got matured and you hardly bring improvement in their technique.
Many cricketers had premature retirement while many Captains like Mushtaq Mohammad, Javed Miandad, Waseem Akram, Rashid Latif could have long tenure as skipper but became victim of revolt within the team.
If we just go through our preparations for the World Cup from 2011 to 2014, there was more politics, frequent changes at the top, poor planning and then picking and grooming the best talent. After what happened with Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif in 2010, Pakistan had not performed all that bad in 2011, despite that loss.
We could have picked 34 players four years back. In those years, we could even have a settled opening pair or even the most important no 3. These three positions are always considered as the backbone of any team.
In our cricketing history, we had produced some of the best openers and no 3, but they were hardly used to train youngsters. Similarly, our criterion of picking the selection committee also lacked merit. You need good cricketing brain, not good cricketers for the selection.
Today, we need return of democracy in cricket. I think the 1997 PCB Constitution was more democratic than the present one. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who himself is a cricket loving politician, should democratize the PCB. There is no need for any patron-in-chief. If at all, it should be an honorary position.
So, politics remained a dominant factor in the cricketing affairs also. In some cases even political leaders and parties used their influence to get their favorites in the team particularly during the national championship or in the selection of divisional teams.
But, it was during Sharif’s second government when the democratically elected PCB chief was sent home and an ad hoc committee was appointed. For almost 16 years, successive rulers ran the PCB on ad hoc basis. Sharif’s close aide Saifur Rehman’s brother Mujeebur Rehman had lot to do with this destruction. In the name of holding inquires into the alleged “match fixing” he allegedly grilled some of our leading cricketers.
There is still a mystery what happened during retired Justice Malik Qayyum inquiries and why only Saleem Malik was made the scapegoat. Why only half of his recommendations were implemented and the other half was put under the carpet.
But, to me, it was the decision to make President of Pakistan “Patron-in-chief” in the 60s, which was the beginning of political interference in the cricketing affairs that not only destroyed the career of some of the most outstanding cricketers, but also our cricket.
I was a kid, when I first saw an anti-cricket board demonstration during Pakistan-England match at the National Stadium. Although, the protest was part of the campaign against Ayub Khan, I still remember some of placards were against former cricketer Saeed Ahmad and in support of Hanif Mohammad. Later, I realized that even in those days there were Punjab-Karachi rivalries and many deserving players were not selected because of “politics.”
Pakistan never had a good administrator like Air Marshal (R) Noor Khan, both in cricket and hockey, but he too could not stop outside interference whether it was Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP) or Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
If we really want to improve, I have five humble suggestions for the cricket administration. (1) Make Pakistan Cricket Board completely independent. (2) The PCB should have a powerful election commission keeping in view the past manipulations (3) the Auditor General of Pakistan should audit its account and the report should be submitted to Public Accounts Committee, every year. (4) Annual General Body meeting become mandatory prior to the elections (5) No political figure or people with conflict of interest be allowed to become part of the board.
For improvement in cricket: (1) At least 100 players should be picked from schools for which national school championship be held. Best 50 should be sent abroad for three to six months training. (2) Inter-college and inter-universities competitions should also be recognized at the national championship. (3) Former cricketers should be given task for training these young boys. (4) If they qualify to play for their region or departments, you can get the best talent and may not face problems. (5) It is very important that they should have exposure of playing in English or Australian conditions.
Rest is all routine work. So, we have to avoid patch-up work, as we do after every four years or during cricketing series. Pick your captain for the next world cup in 2015, review his performance after two years and give him confidence.
Good Luck to Pakistan.
The writer is the senior analyst and columnist of GEO, The News and Jang.