On one hand is one of the richest cricket boards in the world; on the other is a cricket team that doesn’t even know when they are going to play together, next. On one side is a team that hasn’t won any major tournament because of its lacklustre performance; on the other are the bunch of players who have won trophies and hearts with their performance. On one hand it is Pakistan cricket team, on the other is the West Indies.

Pakistan and the West Indies can be termed as the mirror image of each other. The Men In Green play for themselves; the West Indians have nothing to play for except their pride. They came to India for the World T20 without their kits; Pakistan were given a sendoff as if they had already won the event despite their poor performance in the Asia Cup. Pakistan had a captain whose players were divided into groups and the opponents banked on that; the West Indies is not even a country but a bunch of islands brought together for the love of the game.

How can Pakistan learn from the West Indies? They can start by appointing someone who has his heart and soul in Pakistan Cricket’s betterment. Someone who backs the players, has their respect and knows that his advice will be listened to. Someone like Mohsin Khan who helped the team beat England in a Test series a few years back. The decision to replace Mohsin with Dav Whatmore can be termed as one of the worst in recent years because after that, the Pakistanis were not the same. They even lost a Test match to Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe; and to add fuel to fire, Whatmore joined Zimbabwe after his contract expired as Pakistan coach.

Secondly, we need to select the best players rather than the ones who have been weighed, measured and found wanting. The West Indian cricketers play in every professional cricket league around the world and can be termed as experts in T20 games. Pakistan on the other hand only approves of those players who aren’t required for national duty and that’s where they err. Wouldn’t Yasir Shah get to improve his skills as a leg-spinner if he plays in Big Bash; wouldn’t Anwar Ali become a better all-rounder if he got to meet his contemporaries in other parts of the world. That would help these youngsters a lot and even the oldies like Misbah-ul-Haq could help youngsters from other parts of the world if he got to play international leagues.

It must be mentioned here that in the 70s, Pakistan had a similar team with every player being a match winner in his own right. If Majid Khan and Sadiq Mohammad failed to give a perfect opening start, they always had Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Asif Iqbal and Mushtaq Mohammad to fall on. In the bowling department, Imran Khan and Sarfaraz Nawaz were threats for the opposition. Even Mudassar Nazar and Sikandar Bakht were dependable bowlers who were supported well by all-rounders like Mushy, Asif Iqbal and even Majid Khan. There was hardly a frontline spinner in the team especially since there was no need in those days. Yes Pakistan managed to win matches and hearts with their gutsy performance and has more resemblance to the current West Indian team than their own.

Changing the management at the top wouldn’t help much because they will not be representing Pakistan on the ground. Look at the West Indians, they took the World T20 as a challenge and came out with flying colours; they even criticised their board for not believing in them but that’s not the case in Pakistan. Here the board believes in every other cricketer who makes it to the national level without even inquiring about the others who are more deserving, more talented and would do the nation proud. We must get rid of cricketers who play for themselves and select ones who would be better ambassadors of the country, anywhere, anytime.