Cricket experts call for improved domestic structure to rebuild Pakistan team

• Haroon Rasheed says grassroots cricket neglected in country.
• Taking 20 wickets must to win Test matches: Shan Masood.
• Performance should be only criterion for selection: Fawad Alam.

KARACHI: Pakistan cricket must strengthen its grassroots and domestic structure to improve the national side's game at the international level, former and current cricketers and experts said on Sunday.

The observations were made during Geo News' special panel discussion, Cricket Ka Muqadma, where current and former cricketers, PCB officials and experts debated the challenges, shortcomings and future direction of Pakistan cricket.

The programme featured former captain Mohammad Hafeez, batting great Younis Khan, former Test captain Shan Masood, PCB official Aaqib Javed, and others who shared their views on key issues facing the sport.

The discussion will explored the state of domestic cricket, proposed reforms and the direction of Pakistan cricket.

Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) president Khalid Mahmood said school and college cricket must be prioritised to improve the standard of the game.

He said there was now a growing trend among players to earn more money in a shorter period, adding that fast bowlers in the past regularly bowled 30 to 35 overs, whereas players today were no longer willing to put in that level of effort.

Former chief selector Haroon Rasheed said grassroots cricket had been neglected and stressed that the game could not improve unless the role of departmental cricket was strengthened. He also called for better cricket infrastructure, saying pitches across the country must be improved.

Former captain Younis Khan said Pakistan needed to strike the right balance between red-ball and white-ball cricket. He noted that the country’s domestic cricket was once of a very high standard and Pakistan consistently ranked among the world’s top five teams across all formats.

He warned against blindly copying other countries’ policies, saying Pakistan had forgotten its own identity, while adding that every player now wanted to play all formats of the game.

Cricketer Fawad Alam said performance should remain the only criterion for selection and called for an end to favouritism in Pakistan cricket.

He said a player who had established himself in Test cricket should have little difficulty adapting to One-Day Internationals and T20 cricket.

Fawad questioned whether any notable player had emerged after departmental cricket was discontinued in 2006 and criticised the disparity in player payments, saying T20 fees were being increased while first-class cricket continued to be neglected.

He also urged selectors to assess players based on the pitches and conditions in which they perform and recommended that selectors be required to attend first-class matches.

Quetta Gladiators owner Nadeem Omar said Pakistan would have to restore its previous cricket structure if it wanted to improve the game.

Former captain Mohammad Hafeez said the stronger the foundation of Pakistan’s red-ball cricket, the stronger the country’s overall cricket would become.

Test captain Shan Masood said there was no format of the game greater than Test cricket.

Javed said that pacers with faster deliveries will be seen playing over the next four to five months.

Rasheed, meanwhile, said that improvement would not come unless attention was paid to club and domestic cricket.

He added that Pakistan would have to build a strong system at the grassroots level to ensure sustained progress.

Recalling his time as a selector, he said that when he picked Younis Khan for the Under-19 side, complaints were made against him alleging he had selected a player on recommendation.

For his part, Khan said that teams also needed role models and noted that domestic pitches during the 1980s and 1990s were "nothing like those in Australia".

However, Pakistan still produced fast bowlers during that period despite the conditions, he added.

According to the former captain, young cricketers now preferred playing T20 cricket but stressed the need to strike a balance between formats.

Masood said that a team has to take 20 wickets to win a Test match, which underlined the importance of having a strong bowling attack.

He stressed the need to produce more fast bowlers and added that fitness protocols for players had been improved.

The former Test captain said that Pakistan's bowlers tended to lose effectiveness on the third and fourth days of Test matches and expressed concern that tailenders had been scoring runs against the side.