Cricket defeat: other view

I AGREE with Najam Sethi that pressure from the Pakistani media and fans is to be blamed for the team’s defeat against India. The media and fans treat the Pakistani cricket team in the same manner that many Pakistanis treat their children, that is mostly discouraging them and trying to micromanage things as much as possible.

Relationships are based on give and take. If the fans want value for money, so do our cricketers.

And one should not forget that relationships based on material benefit almost never prosper as the commitment and passion are missing.

Many Pakistanis are asking about the team’s courage? I ask the nation when have you ever given encouragement to your team. India played to win, Pakistan played not to lose while our media played for their ratings, so why are they now complaining? The reason our team plays “not to lose” is because taking risks is sure to be overanalysed back home.

When Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup, we only had PTV, a controlled media which encouraged the Green shirts. Today the team faces a free media ever willing to crucify them for the slightest slip.

When have our anchors with their holier-than-thou attitudes ever given prime time to local cricket and its issues? When was the last time our businessmen, who are complaining, sponsor a local cricket team? All you upset fans, how much time and money do you give to your children to play cricket?

India won because the whole nation plays cricket, we Pakistanis only watch cricket.

Maryam Siddique

United Kingdom

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FEBRUARY 21 will be remembered as the day when the last nail was hammered into the coffin of the Pakistan cricket, right under PCB patronage.

As compared to the Indian cricket team, which defeated us by 76 runs, on Feb 21, a lower-ranked West Indian cricket team beat us by a margin of 150 runs. We batted 47 overs against India, but onnly 39 overs against the West Indies.

Mr Prime Minister, more than the defeat the sudden dip of standards in the batting, bowling and fielding departments of our team against West Indies (which was defeated in our World Cup round match a few days ago by Ireland, a non Test-playing nation), is just alarming.

However, I still believe that it is not our players who are responsible for the World Cup debacle. Along with the PCB chairman, his top advisers and members of the PCB board of governors, the major responsibility of this poor state of affair lies with the tour management committee, consisting of the head coach, chief selector, manager and the captain.

Now the Pakistan Cricket Board leadership has converted our cricket team into a rudderless ship, with a big hole in its hull, which is sinking deeper with every passing moment or match.

We immediately need to dissolve the PCB and its governing board, replacing it with someone who has the ability to rebuild, within two months, a professional PCB, second to none in the ICC.

Moreover, a professionally honest and hard task master from amongst senior cricketers such as Wasim Bari, Javed Miandad, Mohsin Hasan Khan, Abdul Qadir or Aamir Suhail may be immediately sent to Australia as director-general of the Pakistan Cricket Board, with full administrative and cricketing

decision- making powers to ensure that our team must not surrender in the next matches and must reach, as a first step, the quarter-final stage and then gradually move upwards.

S. Nayyaruddin Ahmad

Lahore

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2015