CRICKET IN PAKISTAN

Telling of a tale of how cricket in Pakistan is run

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In the aftermath of the Pakistan Super League many an ex pro has come out of the bonnet to criticize the venture, believing that it won't contribute to Pakistan cricket. © Cricbuzz

One former Pakistan player, puzzled by all things Pakistani cricket, once posited a solution to every problem: "why don't you guys just do the same thing as Indians? They've already shown you how it works, you don't even need any creativity to succeed." The topic in question was the television programming and broadcasting surrounding Pakistan cricket, yet it could apply to nearly every facet of life here. With a plethora of examples to choose from, it's a surprise that copy-pasting successful ideas hasn't become the norm. Well, it's only a surprise if you believe in logic and don't know much about Pakistan.

The animosity between the two nations results in an ego-driven rejection of ideas from India, but still you would think pure capitalism would win out in the end.

But alas, that's not really the case. In the aftermath of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), many an ex pro has come out of the bonnet to criticize the venture, believing that it won't contribute to Pakistan cricket. Meanwhile, across the border the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has become obscenely rich, is able to pay pensions, improve the domestic system, and create a generation which can handle pressure, embrace its role as the cricket elites and is one of the most professional sides in the world - with much of it owing to their experiences in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Yet, even those Pakistani ex pros might not be the greatest offenders - for that, you would have to look at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) itself. Even when they stumble upon a good idea, they manage to find ways to make it fail. Case in point, the draft for Pentangular Trophy a few days ago.

The Pentangular Trophy (renamed the Pakistan Cup, at least for this edition) is the 50-over Pakistani equivalent of the Duleep Trophy - a chance for a country with too many teams and too many players to actually have a competitive domestic tournament. Historically, it's been a chance to reward the best performers in that domestic season - something that is no longer possible in the case of a subjective draft. In the PSL - where, on average, a franchise was spending in excess of $3million for a three week jamboree, it was paramount for franchises to pick the best players. Even with that amount of financial investment, you doubt whether that could ever be the case with domestic cricket.

Take the case of Arsal Sheikh, for instance. Despite mediocre stats leading up to it, he was selected for the Pakistan team for the Under-19 World Cup earlier in the year to much consternation from the media. He returned with one wicket in 22.5 overs across four matches, and a grand total of one run. Come the day of the Pentangular draft though, he was picked by the Federal Region team (the team representing the capital Islamabad, alongside the other four teams representing each of the provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) - resulting in ironic cheers and applause from the assembled press corps. The reason for this is obvious, but it requires the telling of a tale of how cricket in Pakistan is run.

Prior to the draft, a new rule was added to the squad composition that didn't exist before: one player from the U-19 team had to be part of each of the five teams. On the surface, it's a noble gesture allowing teenagers to learn from the very best in Pakistan. Like everything else in Pakistan though, theory and practice might as well exist in parallel universes. Supposedly, the Federal Region selectors were told that they were only allowed to pick U-19 players from their region - and that list included a combined total of one name: Arsal Sheikh. Except, that could only be the case if the Federal Region were to consist solely of the city of Islamabad and not Rawalpindi or the surrounding areas which are part of the same urban agglomeration. This, they say, is what they were told. It's a position that was corroborated by people within the PCB on the day of the draft. Soon though, the story from the PCB had changed - of course, the list had more names than one; and of course, the Federal Region's area of influence included more than just the city of Islamabad... it's just that they chose Arsal.

But why so much disquiet over a mediocre teenager? Well, the reason for the reaction of the press corps that day might have had something to do with who Arsal is; or rather who his father is. He is the son of Shakil Sheikh - member of the PCB Board of Governors, the undisputed don of cricket in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, the Chairman of PCB's Cricket Committee, someone who is surreptitiously involved in everything in Pakistan cricket and someone who has called Majid Khan "a duffer" and Misbah-ul-Haq "a geeder" (literally jackal, in context, a coward) on national television.

The twist here is that the captain of Federal Region team which picked Arsal was a certain Misbah. Even though he's a man never likely to take a stand against selections imposed on him, it's still difficult to stomach that he would select Shakil's son. This is not merely because of personal animosity, but also because if the PCB is to be believed (that Federal Region could pick U-19 players from Rawalpindi) then him selecting Arsal as the young spinner ahead of Shadab Khan - someone who he has admitted to being a fan of - seems preposterous. Particularly because not only did Shadab finish as the joint-highest wicket-taker for Pakistan in the U-19 World Cup, he also hails originally from Mianwali.

Of course, it's not the first time Shakil's name has been mentioned with respect to controversy in the Pentangular. For instance, in the previous edition of the Pentangular eight of the ten captains and vice-captains chosen were players who have represented Pakistan. One of the two exceptions was Bismillah Khan, the lone Balochistan-born player in the Balochistan team. The other exception, preferred to the likes of Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanvir and Umar Gul as vice-captain for the Federal team, was Zohaib Ahmed - a journeyman allrounder who has never even got close to the Pakistan team. Zohaib, coincidentally, is also Shakil's nephew.

But I digress, back to our story. Despite the proclamations from the PCB, the inclusion of Arsal, combined with the exclusion of both Shadab and Hasan Mohsin (the joint-highest wicket takers for Pakistan in the U-19 World Cup, the latter also being Pakistan's highest run-scorer in the tournament) created a furore that resulted in PCB allowing each of the teams to pick another U-19 player to add to their 15-man squads. And in a shock twist, both the kids were picked up, Mohsin by the Sindh team, and Shadab, unsurprisingly, by the Federal team.

So a happy ending then?

Alas, this was just secondary, but visible scandal from that draft, because a tournament which was designed to reward domestic cricket performers failed to do that. Five of the top 10 wicket-takers in the National One Day Cup weren't considered good enough for the Pentangular, foremost amongst them being Sadaf Hussain. For the second season in a row, Sadaf finished as the highest wicket-taker in the domestic 50-over game, continued to have the best first-class average of any pace bowler of his generation and continued to be ignored. Or as he says, "wherever I get an opportunity I perform better than everyone else. But when it comes time for major events, tournaments that will be shown on TV and will have the selectors taking notice, I am deliberately excluded from that. They think they can do whatever they want, as long as they keep the public unaware."

And why wouldn't they think that? It's a strategy that continues to work for them.

© Cricbuzz

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