Javed Miandad
and Haroon Rashid Should be Fired, Not Skipper Inzimam
By
Dr. Zafar Altaf
ISLAMABAD:
The time for the rituals has arrived once again. Every losing
captain is a scapegoat for the ills and decisions elsewhere. Wasim
Akram, Salim Malik, Waqar Younis, Moin Khan and so many others.
Why this tendency in the management and the administration. Why
put the blame on others that are or were down the line in the
pecking order?
The
match they played was inordinately bad. There are no excuses.
The coach wanted things to happen. He is not a being man. He never
was. He was admittedly a great batsman. But that is where the
buck ends.
He
has no idea of the mental frame of the players and I had made
some similar comments on the book that he asked some one to write
for him. It was a flawed book about a person whose ego comes into
play when the players are winning and he wants the credit. Instead
he asked his players to psycho the Indians by rubbish talk; talk
that cannot be made to walk.
So
why make your player do it. Youhana came out with some irrelevant
babble, Inzi came with his double babble. The obvious was stated
by Imran. The not so obvious was stated by the coach and the manager,
himself a man of little guts [or and no tenacity] came out with
his statement about the wicket and yet Pakistan could not handle
the wearing mentality that they had developed.
It
was not the surface that was at fault. It was what was inside
the minds of the players. The winning culture be dammed. The PCB
had developed a winning culture I was told. They do not understand
that every test match is a different one. You have to star all
over again.
Servility
brings with it a number of disadvantages. One of the biggest was
the inability to handle matters when they get tough. It was alright
to beat Club New Zealand at home. Some of the NZ team did not
even know how to handle the bat, the nuances and the finesses
aside.
Pakistan
followed NZ to NZ and got clobbered. But the management’s
assertion of the culture of winning stood its ground in the PCB.
What has poor diplomat Shaharyar Khan done to get all the abuse?
He got saddled in to it. It was reportedly one of the former goons
of the Cabinet Division [most of them have been that] who took
credit for this great decision. Whether he was responsible or
not he was taking credit for the prowess that he had. So he should
stand up and be counted. And what of the cricket council or advisory
team that included centurion bankers? Where was there wisdom?
All over the place I am told.
Back
to cricket and the way the team is developed? Who was responsible
for the cricket mind collapse? Not the selectors. This team of
Haroon Rashid and Javed Miandad, (H&J) was the team that went
on the ten sports channel praising the PCB general while the team
was losing the matches at the World Cup. With them was the CEO
adding his two pence bit.
Why are they mum now that the General has gone after disfiguring
Pakistan’s cricket when he selected his own off-spring for
the test matches and the one dayers. Shame? Conscience? Censorship?
Where are those high defining words? Most of them shacked up some
where in some five star hotel.
Try my shoulder! What will poor Inzi do? He will be slashed unless
the team wins the next one and that seems highly unlikely. What
then? A good batsman sent to the gallows. For Inzi is batsman
with a lot of talents. Probably they will get back Rashid? And
why not? At least he can counter the threats of the PCB and the
CEO of the PCB. Strange. Pals some times ago and now at each others
throat!
The
batting order has been destroyed for one and only one reason.
To accommodate the nephew of Javed Miandad (JM). Why do nephews
and sons have to be part of the team. As long as Faisal plays
cricket-fine. JM should be out of any reckoning in cricket in
any capacity for he would always have a nagging conflict of interest.
And we know that JM has never learnt to transcend his self benefit.
It is not in him so why find fault.
Majid
is now clamoring for his son. Where was he when Bazid was taking
away the rights of the poor? When he was not mature enough to
play he played him for Majid was the CEO of the PCB. Majid at
least got a voice in the newspapers. The poor do not get that
voice. They have no anchor.
The
sociology of a team develops on that basis. The minute Mr. President
of the PCB you get into nefarious activities and allow second
fiddle to play first fiddle all kinds of scandals will come to
light. The nigger in the wood pile would be in you. The interactive
process between the players is non-existent, between the management
and the player’s one of super-subordinate.
The executive does not know its role and therefore messes up on
Ten Sports. Mr. President, whoever and whatever you are, you asked
for it and you are getting it with interest. The lines of not
only communication but also of trust have been eliminated.
Come
to the Psychology. The players have to try and prove their superiority
in sports over the opposing team. How will that be done? Change
the batting order at will. Where does Youhana play well, where
should Razaque go to bat and what about the bowlers. Keep Saqlain
out from the team for two years and then give him a chance and
when the going is bad give him a shove.
Is
that a good way to develop a team with a psychological frame of
mind to handle the opponents? When one does not have the wherewithal
what do you expect. Has any one tried to fathom the frame of mind
of the Indians? If they had come to Pakistan after their last
NZ tour the Pakistanis may have had the better of them. But for
once Steve Waugh wanting to go out on a glorious trend made the
wickets that would enable him to go out with a century the Indians
got in to the act. They are riding a crest at the moment.
And
what have we done with our bowling is what is criminal. Imran
is right. He has been very patient with the likes of JM. About
time. The abusers need to be abused in return? This country could
do with a coach and a manager that have developed minds. Developed
minds are hard to find. This Indian team will be good for Pakistan.
It is a run machine and unless you conquer them in the mind you
have no chance of getting anywhere.
The
question is who will be the next scapegoat? The ultimate or the
next to the ultimate. H&J should go? They have a slavish mentality
and do not deserve to be where they are. Poor Inzi. We may have
seen the end of a great batsman by the end of the series. He will
be much battered and bruised. Yes?
The
writer is a former Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board
