Raja faces challenges at domestic level: Jalal

KARACHI: Former Pakistan Test fast bowler Jalaluddin hopes that Ramiz Raja will perform well as the PCB chairman.

“He is far better than the outgoing chairman,” he said on Sunday while talking to ‘The News’. “He understands the modern day cricket requirements and has good reputation and relations in the world which will help Pakistan cricket,” he added.

Commenting on the resignation of head coach Misbahul Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis, Jalal said it was disappointing because only a few days were left before the series against New Zealand, which is to be followed by T20 World Cup.

“Ramiz hasn’t been appointed PCB chairman so far so he could not have asked them to resign, so why did both most responsible figures of Pakistan resign? Just a few days ago they were talking about the future planning of Pakistan cricket and especially the preparation for the T20 World Cup. And now they have resigned,” he said.

Jalal said the new chairman should not accept the resignations, and must ask them to continue till the end of the T20 World Cup. “They were given full powers to prepare the team for the T20 World Cup and other important Test matches and ODI series. They can’t run away like this,” he said.

“Who would be responsible if Pakistan did not do well in T20 World Cup,” he said. He said Misbah and Waqar knew that team would not be able to do well in the T20 World Cup, so they chose to run away.

Jalal said the team was unbalanced. “The selectors don’t know who to choose for which type of conditions and which format. The selection has been conducted on the basis of personal liking and those who have failed before have once again been selected,” he said.

Jalal said that Pakistan would face hard challenges in the near future, especially in the T20 World Cup. “Only a miracle can make Pakistan win this tournament. Neither has the opening combination been set up, nor is the middle order stable. The team depends too much on captain Baber Azam and Muhammad Rizwan in all three formats. In Tests, besides these two only Fawad Alam is dependable,” said the former pacer.

He said Raja would also face hard challenges at domestic level due to the wrong policies of pervious PCB chairman. He said that Ehsan Mani and CEO Wasim Khan destroyed the domestic cricket structure because they did not have understanding of the ground realities.

He observed that the grassroots level cricket had remained suspended for the last two years across the country. “They haven’t allowed club cricket, the electoral process of cricket associations could not be started so far and only nominated people have been picked up to establish the associations on ad hoc basis,” he added.

Jalal said that dozens of appointments were made in the PCB and various positions were created, including general managers, directors, coaches, assistant coaches, physiotherapists, managers. “But it did not produce any new players and we are compelled to retain 40-year-old players,” he said.

He said a number of coaches and assistant coaches had been appointed at the National High Performance Centre but the result was that a dozen catches were dropped against New Zeland in Test matches last year and four catches were dropped against West Indies in the first Test recently.