Former fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz feels that the once-formidable Pakistan cricket team has failed to keep pace with their Indian counterparts, and places the blame squarely on the administrators in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Rain washed out Pakistan’s final group stage match against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on Thursday, leaving the hosts winless in the first ICC tournament held in the country since 1996. The no-result match followed a comprehensive defeat to India in Dubai and a loss to New Zealand in the tournament opener.
Nawaz believes his former side’s poor performance is due to a range of reasons — starting with the team selection that failed to incorporate the spinners that have performed well in recent Test series at home — and that the root of the problem lies in the corridors of power in Pakistani cricket.
“The team (for the Champions Trophy) was unbalanced. Some players were selected because of backing from higher authorities. When the team was announced, I wrote to the chairman of the PCB suggesting spinners like Sajid Khan and Noman Ali, who had wrecked England earlier. They performed well against the West Indies too, but they were not picked at all,” he said in an interview with Cricbuzz.
The former fast bowler, who has 177 Test wickets in 55 matches for Pakistan in a career that lasted 15 years, was not too optimistic about the future either.
“There’s no doubt (that India have left Pakistan far behind)… Pakistan cricket is gone now. I think it’s because of all the PCB officials running the board. They are non-cricketers; they are bureaucrats. That’s why I think they don’t know how to go about things like that. They’ve picked people who previously destroyed Pakistan cricket.
“And then there are frequent changes in the PCB. Within a year and a half, there were three chairmen and four captains. What else do you expect?” he added.