Pakistan have lost both the Test matches by a huge margin in the ongoing England tour.
Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria launched a scathing attack on the country’s cricketing system following the Babar Azam-led team's devastating Test series defeat against England.
Pakistan suffered an innings and 103-run defeat in the opening Test at Headingley. They lost the second Test at Lord’s by a huge margin of 194 runs, thereby conceding an unassailable 2-0 lead to England in the three-match series.
Reflecting on the debacle, Kaneria said the problem runs much deeper than the latest result. He believes Pakistan cricket no longer plays with its traditional aggressive and unpredictable flair.
“It's a shame that after 70 years, Pakistan has gone through such a disaster. There is no logic, selection committee, or play. They are just good for nothing. You see, such a bad performance. If a person loses, he tries and fights before losing. The fight has to be visible. Here, there's no fight. No one knows anything. The team selection committee is responsible, but they are not responding. First you made Babar the captain, then removed him. But there should be a reason. ‘Let's make Babar the captain. Let it run for 1-3 years.' But then you removed him from there, then made him captain again. Now you are talking about removing him again. Your cricket won't improve like this," Kaneria told IANS.
"You brought coach Sarfaraz. You brought him for 3 months. You said he is going to be removed. Umar Gul is going to be removed. Then why did you bring him? When this cricket was making noise in the middle, I was happy that Yunus Khan is coming as a chief selector. The team will improve. Because I know him pretty well. And he has that knowledge. Because he himself is a hardworking boy. He has come a long way in cricket. Because he is a very straightforward person. He talks straightforwardly. He kept his terms and conditions, and the PCB refused. You need to bring someone who can take losses and wins on himself.
"And Younis is such a person. But what about the current cricket? They have made it very bad. They don't have a bowler. You are going to Test cricket. You have a 120 bowler. You don't have a baller who can hit 140-150. You don't even have a spinner. If you look at it, bowlers win matches for you in Test cricket. Muhammad Abbas has been playing county cricket in England for a long time. He has experience, and you drop him! Then there was Noman Ali, a left-arm spinner. He was bowling so well. Even today he is playing in the county. They must have called him to England to play county for some valid reason, right? You remove whoever performs well. Sajid Khan is playing and performing. You dropped him," he added.
The criticism comes a day after the PCB announced a sweeping mid-tour overhaul of its Test squad and team management. Seven players, including Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha, have been released, while red-ball head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul were relieved of their duties.
Kaneria compared Pakistan's stagnation to Bangladesh's structural rise, pointing out the latter’s ability to consistently unearth bowlers capable of hitting 140+ kph and secure tough overseas wins.
“I give credit to the Bangladesh team. They lost the second test; it's okay, but winning the first test in Australia against Australia is not that easy. They have 140 bowling bowlers at least. And we don't have anything. That trend is over. The trend of fast bowlers, of good spinners. There is no spinner. There is no batter. There is no bowler. I don't know why they are playing cricket even. I mean, you see, all over the world, people are making fun of us.
"Fan following has ended. I meet so many people. They say, sir, we have stopped watching. It's a waste of time. So, when you do this, your fan following will obviously end. People won't be interested. Then your broadcasters will say for whom should we do this? And they will waste money. Nasser Hussain has said such a big thing that this team is not in level with even the county team. Not even club cricket of first division. It's not even that. They said such a big thing. It's just a waste of time. You come and waste people's money. Buy a ticket. Do this, do that. I mean, give something to the public! Only cricket was a good thing left in Pakistan. And they have ruined cricket too. Literally, there should be accountability.”
According to Kaneria, accountability has to begin at the top as he called for administrators to appoint people on merit, give coaches ample time to work and stop reshuffling positions without allowing a system to settle.
“The administration should play an important role. You bring good people in it who are honest who don't cheat who don't pick up the players on the sheet based on their relations with them. If they are good, then pick them up. But there should be accountability. You bring such people. Then you focus on coaching. Give a year's time. Bring in a good coach. But this is not a coaching material. Sarfaraz is not the right person. No matter how much he has played but he is not that experienced. Umar is a fast bowler. He understands. But they need to build up a team. You see the coach of Bangladesh who is doing well.
"One of the best coaches ever. You bring such a coach from outside because they work on discipline. They don't let anyone come into their work. But PCB can't handle if they are disciplined. Aqib Javed, who first became a director then became a selector, and he kept getting some positions one after the other. But where is your cricket going? You see what has happened to cricket? I mean, you don't have any bowling or batting. Your quality cricket is over. We also used to lose. But fight and lose. At least fight. Fight, Try at least! But there is no effort. You come in. You are getting money. There is a contract. Who will ask? Stamp is there. Star is there. They should be very strict.”
Kaneria reckons Pakistan's cricket decline stems directly from destroying its traditional domestic structure, pointing out that India, England, and Australia achieved success by preserving and respecting their long-established domestic structures.
“I like how the BCCI have put in their contracts that first class cricket is important. At least you play 5 to 6 games. None of our boys play domestic. And this downfall of Pakistan cricket started when the structure of domestic cricket changed. Because earlier when we used to play there used to be a trophy which our associations used to play. Then there used to be a trophy tournament in which the department used to play.
"In the association, some players also had to take the association because they had voting. But the rest were strong. And the department used to pay. So they used to take the best players. As a result, Pakistan's cricket continued to improve. But when the department destroyed cricket, made the players unemployed. You gave it to the regions. They destroyed the boys. So you increased the quantity, but the quality of the players is not there at all. It's zero.
"No country removes its domestic structure. I don't know what came to their minds. They themselves have played so much in England. England's structure has been going on for years. They didn't change it. Why are you bringing someone's model to a country where this model cannot work? You know how much corruption there is in the association. There are a lot of problems. Because there is no accountability there either. The accounting system in England is there is accountability for everything. That's why they have good players. Australia have Sheffield Shield. They have kept their structure the same.”
Kaneria highlighted that abandoning "departmental cricket" in favor of a regional/association model increased player quantity but reduced player quality to "zero."
“But Pakistan's cricket has been destroyed. I will give the reason for this. First, the players don't play Domestic cricket. And second, you closed the department cricket and handed it over to the association. That is very pathetic. And because of this, today we see literally no one wants to watch a game. Why will he waste his time? Why will he wake up in the morning and watch? What is there to do? There should be some interest in the game. But people's interest is diminishing. And this is just today. You see that people are talking less about the Test cricket series and more about how big of sweaters they are wearing. They are talking about that. Because there is nothing else to talk about.”