Speaking to PakPassion.net, as part of his blog for the site, Mohammad Zahid was highly critical of the Pakistan team and the cricket board adminstration and called for changes in personnel from top to bottom.

"To lose the match in Sydney was not only disappointing, but it was also embarassing for a great cricketing nation like Pakistan" stated Zahid.

"The lack of matchwinners in the current Pakistan batting lineup is alarming. You have players in the team who do not deserve to be anywhere near the team. Players such as Faisal Iqbal, Salman Butt, Misbah ul Haq and Imran Farhat should not be touring Australia. It's very annoying to see the same players being recycled and given chance after chance, despite their inadequacies. These players have been given enough chances already and have shown that they are not up to international cricket and are only being selected due to outside influence" added Zahid.

Zahid who is widely regarded as one of the fastest ever bowlers in the history of cricket continued "selection in the Pakistan team is currently based on who you know, who can back you up and how influential they are, rather than how good you are at cricket. There are boys in domestic cricket who deserve a chance to play for Pakistan, but unfortunately for them they don't have the backing from non cricketing individuals".

Zahid felt that Yousuf's captaincy was lacking in Sydney and rather than going for the kill, he wrongly sat back and waited for the Australians to make mistakes. "The killer instinct was missing in Sydney and you have to hold the captain responsible for that. Instead of forcing home the advantage of having Australia in effect 80 for 8, the Pakistan skipper sat back and allowed the Australians to fight their way back into the match. As the captain became defensive, so did the rest of his team".

Zahid believes that Younus Khan is the only alternative to Yousuf in the test team and Shahid Afridi should be captain of the one day team. "I've known Yousuf for a number of years, he's a lovely guy, but as captain you need someone who is going to lead the way, someone who has the personality to deal with a number of complex characters and who can get the best out of all eleven players. I think Yousuf lacks the leadership qualities and was basically made skipper due to there being no other alternative. The current group of players is so different to when I made my debut when there were 9 former captains in the team. Looking through the current squad, I don't see many leaders. Whoever is made vice captain seems to lose form and therefore their place in the team. I would return to Younus Khan as captain of the test team and Shahid Afridi as captain of the one day and Twenty/20 teams".

Zahid who is based in the UK, but still has very close links to Pakistan cricket, having played domestic cricket right up to 2009 continued. "As far as the coaching situation is concerned, the Board need to have 2 men in overall control of team coaching. I'm not in favour of having too many specialist coaches and I would recommend to the Board to appoint Mudassar Nazar as head coach and Waqar Younis as his assistant. Mudassar knows the mentality of the Pakistani cricketer and I'm sure he would whip the team into shape".

 

 

Disclaimer - The views and opinions expressed above are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of PakPassion.net.

PakPassion.net is a cricket fan's forum and strives to bring to the fans the views of those involved in the game. The views of such external contributors are presented without editorialising or comment by PakPassion.net. 

PakPassion.net does not accept responsibility for any reliance being placed on any of the information contained in this external article; anyone relying on the information presented herein does so entirely at their own risk.

 

Discuss!