BLOG: Sit back, relax and hope we find Talent?

Pakistan is short on talent, Pakistan's former captain Shahid khan Afridi said this when his spot in the team was being questioned. However once he was discarded from the T20 squad the nation realized that we had talent like Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam, Muhammad Nawaz and others, who were waiting for an opportunity to make inroads into the Pakistani squad.

This is a major dilemma that Pakistan has faced, senior players who clocked years in the team become so individually strong that their position in the team cannot be challenged.

Over the years so many talented cricketers who played first class cricket in Pakistan, couldn't make it to the national squad despite their talent and great stats in the domestic cricket circuit.

It seems Pakistan is not willing to move on, not willing to consider that there is talent beyond the existing aging-members in the squad. The Chief Selector, Inzimam ul Haq pointing out the possibility that Kamran Akmal might make it into the squad as a batsman - because his performance in the QeA Trophy can't be discarded - is a testament to the preceding argument. 

 

Then we have Mohammad Asif, who believes Pakistan's bowling line up is struggling and he might just be the solution to the problem (so much for modesty).

Let me remind you here, that during this years QeA Trophy major players were missing. The cream of Pakistan's batting and bowling line up were either playing BPL or representing the national team in Australia. This brings me to two very simple questions: Who was Kamran Akmal scoring centuries against? Which batsmen were struggling against Mohammad Asif? 

Now that the picture has cleared, it brings me to more important questions. Is the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) planning on relying on these players for years to come? Is there a plan through which they will focus on developing and exploring new talent? What are the PCB's goals? 

Sports journalist need to focus their spotlights on upcoming talent, rather then shining that light on old horses that have been tried and tested but were found wanting. 

At the end of the day we need to broaden our horizon, look beyond the obvious and make things happen rather then expecting them to happen.