Former Pakistan Test players on Sunday appealed to the country’s cricket authorities to learn from the success of Australia and New Zealand in the World Cup.
Shortly after Australia bagged the title for the fifth time, many former players credited the captains of the two teams for encouraging their players to play a more enjoyable, watchable and aggressive brand of cricket.
“I think it just shows how big a role a captain has to play in a team. New Zealand might have lost but I give credit to both captains for bringing in a fresh approach to their teams in this World Cup,” former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar said on Geo News channel.
Akhtar pointed out that if the captain and team management was willing to back the players to play aggressive and positive cricket than the results would be good more often than not.
“These two teams played fearless cricket and we need to learn from them. Our cricket has become stagnant and our leadership also needs to be fresh and aggressive,” added Akhtar.
Pakistan’s recently retired ODI captain Misbah-ul-Haq has faced the brunt of criticism for the failed World Cup campaign and is usually criticised for not being adventurous and showing flair as captain and batsman to set an example for his players.
Former Test captain turned pundit, Rameez Raja also lauded the approach of the two finalists.
“New Zealand cricket has reinvented itself under Brendon McCullum. They lost today but they are a big saleable side now and they will do better in future as well,” Rameez said.
He said Pakistan cricket also needed to reinvent itself with a fresh approach. “We can’t sit back and wait for things to happen. We need positive leadership and better coordination.”
Former batsman Muhammad Yousuf, who is a vocal critic of Misbah, said that Australia and New Zealand had reached the final because they had quality players.
“Their batsmen are technically good and they are willing to learn. We just don’t have that sort of quality in our batting and that is why we are suffering. It is not about just bringing in new players it is about finding and grooming quality and technically strong players.”
Yousuf pointed out that for too long now Pakistan cricket had become dull due to a fear of defeat.
“For long we have depended on the same lot of players and we need to now change our approach and find technically strong batsmen,” he said.
