In an exclusive interview with PakPassion.net, Jalalluddin expressed his views on the status of coaching in Pakistan, his opinion on the selection process for the post of National coach for Pakistan as well as strengths and weaknessess of some up and coming players.

June 10th 2012

When one mentions the name "Jalal-ul-din" to any cricket fan, invariably the discussion invariably gravitates towards his hattrick against Australia - On the 20th of September, 1982, Jalaluddin became the first cricketer to take a hattrick in an ODI game!

Jalal-ul-din is a former Pakistani cricketer - specialist right-arm fast bowler - who played in 6 Tests and 8 ODIs from 1982 to 1985. He is now a coach, and is the only Pakistani Test cricketer who has the accreditation as both ECB and PCB level-3 coach.

In today's world, Jalal-ul-din is responsible for the famous Customs Cricket Academy as well as the PCBs regional academy. He is considered by many as the finest and most qualified Pakistani bowling coach and has worked with a number of the Pakistani international and upcoming bowlers.

In an exclusive interview with PakPassion.net, Jalalluddin expressed his views on the status of coaching in Pakistan, his opinion on the selection process for the post of National coach for Pakistan as well as strengths and weaknessess of some up and coming players.

PakPassion.net: Whenever your name comes up, the first hattrick in ODI cricket history instantly comes to mind. How did it feel like when you got that hattrick? 

Jalaluddin: When you take two wickets on two balls, then as a bowler you obviously try to complete the hattrick. A hattrick is something that you are not guaranteed to get no matter how hard you try. We were playing against Australia at Hyderabad, Sindh. I had dismissed Rodney Marsh and Bruce Yardley on two successive deliveries. Then I tried to get a hattrick and was successful in the end. You are obviously excited when you achieve something like that and your team mates also appreciate you and congratulate you. So it was a great feeling. At that time, we were unaware of the fact that it was the first hattrick in the history of ODI cricket. We got to know of it the next day when people checked the records and it doubled my excitement. So, it was a great feeling as we also won the match and I was receiving appreciation from all.


PakPassion: What do you think is the reason why you played only 14 One Day Internationals for Pakistan?

Jalaluddin: As far as one day cricket is concerned, my performance had been really good. But as you know, personal likes, dislikes and grievances have always been involved in Pakistan cricket which have destroyed quite a few careers. That’s what happened with me as well. Imran Khan did play a role in ending my career however, it is also important to note that Imran Khan was the one who had selected me in Test cricket and introduced me into ODI cricket as well. Later, some people created misunderstandings between us that led to a rift which is why I had a stop-start career. Imran was the captain then and he had his own views. He took decisions and nobody could really say anything after that. There were some personal issues but I won’t go into details. 

I don’t have any regrets though. Whatever little I played, I played on basis of my good performances. Imran Khan himself had picked me. To get selected by Imran Khan was considered an honour in those days. So, I don’t have any regrets.


PakPassion: How can one develop pace without sacrificing accuracy? Or do you belong to the camp that says pace cannot be learnt?

Jalaluddin: You can develop pace but only up to a certain extent. The amount of pace one can generate has to do with physiology of individuals. You can improve a bowler’s pace by working on the biomechanics, his technique and his fitness level, however, you cannot transform a medium pacer into an out and out fast bowler. That’s not possible. There are some physiological requirements.

When someone asks me to pick a fast bowler, the first thing I check is the bowler’s pace, and not the accuracy or the ability to swing. We can help a fast bowler improve in all these aspects (swing, accuracy, control etc), however, pace is something that cannot be learnt – it has to be there already and only then it can be developed further.


PakPassion.net: Being both a PCB/CA and ECB level 3 coach, can you provide some insight into the differing coaching styles used in Pakistan and England?

Jalaluddin:There are 2 schools of thoughts in Pakistan. There are cricketers who have played a lot of international cricket such as Miandad, Wasim Akram or more recently to some extent, Mohsin Khan who have had no formal training in coaching. In their view, only people who have played cricket extensively should be considered for role of coach.

In my view, it’s important to have that formal training under your belt as regardless of how many matches you have played as a cricketer and that can be a plus point on its own, there are things that only a qualified coach will be aware of. For example, analyzing a player’s game – whether a batsman or a bowler - via video equipment is a specialist task. Without training to perform this task, one can be shown a video of a player hundreds of times without one realizing the issue at hand. Via video analysis we can discover issues with a bowler’s action or for a batsman we can see the strength of his attacking and defensive shots on back or front foot. Thus we identify the issues and flaws in technique which can be rectified but only if you are trained to analyze this information.

In Pakistan, such qualified people are very rare to find. Most of the people who are coaching in Pakistan are doing so on basis of their experience as players which is not the case in the rest of the world where you need to use modern technology and also know how to communicate effectively. The coach should also know how to develop a program for development. In PCB, such qualified talent has not been developed. We don’t have people who can work at an advanced level where you need to develop, motivate, deliver and communicate effectively.

I will repeat again that an experienced player who has played hundreds of Tests can only make another player play like himself but the fact is that every individual is different. If there is one Miandad, then he cannot expect another player to also be a Miandad! This is the real difference between us and other nations where they groom players properly. This is something our experienced cricketers will not accept. If we had the results to show that their way of coaching works then that would be something but they can’t even produce those results on a consistent basis.


PakPassion.net:Is Over coaching a problem? – Saleem Jaffar, in a recent interview with PakPassion, cited the example of Anwar Ali who he feels has been “confused” by advice from multiple coaches?

Jalaluddin:In my view, its not only enough to be qualified but you also have to be competent. In Pakistan, someone like Saleem Jaffar who has had some training in coaching feels that coaching is about changing a player’s technique. Fact is that technique plays just a small part in the players overall performance and technique can only be changed upto a certain age.

Whenever a player goes to the NCA, the people who work there immediately start focussing on improving the technique of the player. What they should be doing is to keep the natural talent of the player in the forefront. Let’s take the example of a bowler’s action. If we assume that the bowler has a defective action but his results are good then we should recognize that fact and work with his action instead of drastically changing his action. This is the problem in Pakistan and this is what has happened with Anwar Ali. His action may have had issues but his natural swing was good and in trying to fix his action, they have destroyed that quality. If a player has good outswing, then we should work with that rather than trying to develop his inswing and losing whatever ability he has with him. In this regard, some of the coaches in PCB are incompetent and they are damaging the reputation of other coaches who have qualifications as well and I really do blame the Board for hiring such people. In terms of over-coaching of individuals, this only happens when there are people who don’t fully understand the role of the coach as is the case with Anwar Ali.


PakPassion.net: What is your opinion on PCBs search for a bowling coach? Have you applied and if so, what is the status of your application?

Jalaluddin: This is a prime example of the PCBs incompetence. The position of bowling coach has been advertised twice and I have also applied twice for that post. On both occasions, the PCB acknowledged my application and stated that they would let me know the status soon as well. I have yet to hear from them about whether I have been rejected or shortlisted or called for an interview. Now I hear that they are planning to advertise for the 3rd time with enhanced requirements etc. It looks to me that people who have been entrusted with this assignment are unable to perform their duties in a competent manner. What they should be doing is to shortlist individuals and arranging interviews with them. They should be asked about their plans, understanding of the issues and how they wish to improve the Pakistani bowling attack. The way I see it is that they seem to have their mind made up about who they want in that position and they are busy trying to find an excuse to get them in via an advertisement! This to me is a major setback for Pakistani cricket that people tasked with selection of a bowling coach have no idea about this position.


PakPassion.net:While we are on the topic of a bowling coach for Pakistani team, do you have any preference for a local or a foreign coach?

Jalaluddin:The fact is that the coach can be Pakistani or foreign as long as they conform to the requirements set by the PCB. However, as I have said, you need to shortlist people and talk to them and then decide. I will also say this that if you are being so picky about choosing a coach, why is it that you did not apply the same criteria when you chose Aqib Javed or Javed Miandad? In Aqib’s case, he did not even have any qualifications at the time of his hire but obtained some qualifications during his stint with the team. If PCB could make such allowances before then why is there a great delay now? It seems that when the PCB wants to take on an unqualified coach or if they have something in mind, they do so without worrying about anything else. If you take the example of Mohsin Khan, he took over and did well and in reality he should have been allowed to stay but since PCB had this in their mind to get rid of him they did so without a problem. They talked about Mohsin being not qualified but what about his predecessors – were they all qualified? Fact is that there is no logic or consistency and a lot of decisions appear to be pre planned. These things cannot be improved until the PCB works with honesty on this issue.


PakPassion.net: In your opinion, what areas does Wahab Riaz need to work on? What are his weaknesses? 

Jalaluddin: Wahab Riaz is a very good bowler and there are a lot of good things about him. However, one thing I have noticed about him is his run up. For bowlers, especially fast bowlers, all their weaknesses begin with the run up. If your run up is good, then everything else falls into place. At the moment, Wahab’s stride is too large and he takes large steps when he is running. By the time he comes to deliver the ball, he is off balance and can’t control himself, and because of this he ends up bowling no-balls. I've been seeing him bowl a lot of no-balls in first class cricket for quite some time now, yet, to this day, no one has helped him improve that. So I think it’s very important he fixes his run up, so that when he comes to deliver the ball he is balanced and in control. If you have large strides from the beginning, you run in the same manner throughout so you are unable to build up momentum, and this results in problems and can lead to no balls. I think everything else about him is alright - he can move the ball and he has also got pace. He just needs to improve the run up so he goes from smaller strides to larger strides gradually and doesn't go off balance and stays in control at the point of delivery. This is a problem that he has had from the start and it still hasn’t been rectified. I think he has got the potential, but there's room for improvement - especially in his run-up.


PakPassion.net: What do you think about the future of Rahat Ali, a name we have been hearing a lot lately? 

Jalaluddin: I haven't seen Rahat Ali a lot. I haven't been able to follow First Class cricket this year. I watched him on TV recently. I think it will take time for him to prove himself on the international level. He is fine for domestic cricket and he has performed there. When you pick a player [for international cricket] early, he is usually not mature enough for the highest level. In my opinion, he is not ready for international cricket yet. We need to groom him properly before exposing him to international cricket. When you give international exposure to a youngster early and if he fails to perform well, we start blaming the player. You need to groom the player first. The physical aspect is also very important. If a bowler has not fully developed, there is a major risk of injury. Another thing that we always ignore is the mental aspect of the game - it is crucial to the performance of any player.

I'd say he definitely has the talent, but he is not mature enough for international cricket yet.


PakPassion.net: Junaid Khan has done reasonably well in limited overs cricket. What do you think he needs to do to become an effective bowler in Test cricket?

Jalaluddin: He has a good action but doesn't possess a lot of variations. Firstly, he must improve his fitness levels. Secondly, he will have to develop a few variations in his bowling in terms of movement. At the moment, all of his deliveries are the same which would expose him on the international level soon. He should further improve his bouncer and try to learn how to move the ball both ways if he can. Most importantly, he needs to improve his fitness and bowl longer spells. In the highest level of cricket, you have to bowl for long periods of time to be able to perform well. 

All in all, he needs to improve his fitness and try to develop some variations in his bowling - try to develop inswing or outswing and improve his yorkers and bouncers.


PakPassion.net:What will it take to create another Pakistani fast bowler of with speed and firepower like that of Shoaib Akhtar? Or are those days over?

Jalaluddin: As I said in the beginning, pace is something that is present naturally in a player. Whether its Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis – all had that natural ability to bowl with pace which developed further as their career progressed. 

We don’t have a scarcity of raw talent in Pakistan. However, to identify and develop this talent is up to the Board and I am afraid, they are failing in their responsibility. They are content to let talent present itself to them instead of reaching out and identifying such talent. Having said that, I am hopeful that we will be able to find more raw talent in terms of pace bowlers as the standard of talent in our country is no less than that found in Australia or South Africa. The difference being that other countries are able to groom the local talent in a proper manner whereas we fail in that area.

PakPassion.net: We've heard a lot about your Customs Cricket Academy. What is your role in the academy and are there any famous cricketers that have been produced from the academy in the recent past that you feel have a bright future?

Jalaluddin: After taking certified coach training courses, in 1999, I opened up this academy. Since I work for the Customs, I established this academy in the Customs Sports Complex in Karachi. Here we can play matches and also have gym facilities. There are a lot of cricketers who started cricket from our academy and then went on to play international cricket. These players include Mohammad Sami, Hasan Raza, Fawad Alam, and Naved Latif. However, in Customs, since we could not provide them with jobs these players would ultimately move to other organizations to continue their cricket.

Currently we have two coaching programs at the junior level: regular coaching, where anyone come and get coaching and specialised coaching program that focuses on selected individuals. The specialised coaching program is free of charge and its done through a sponsorship program. At the junior level, there are hundreds of kids who have gone through this specialised program and have been trained by our academy. Since we are limited on our funding resources, it is not possible to continuously train these youngsters. Typically what happens is that we work with these youngsters for a period of one to two years. After this, they go on to the National Cricket Academy and get additional training. 
Even as part of our specialised training program, we have had a few players that have gone on to a play top-level cricket. Anwar Ali is one player that we had identified in this way. Apart from this, at the junior level, in order to further their development as cricketers, I take the U-15 and U-17 teams on various overseas tours including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Sharjah, Malaysia. Again, there is no charge for this and is aimed at getting them accustomed to the playing conditions abroad.

My academy has a lot of different training program including a one-to-one coaching program and specific programs geared towards the U-15, U-17, and U-19s. We also hold summer camps more for the entertainment of kids and get them motivated towards cricket.

We also opened up the Jalaluddin Cricket Academy in Korangi where we have a training center. We have various similar initiatives that we are doing work in various areas to further develop cricket. As far as developing cricket is concerned, the major responsibility is on the Pakistan Cricket Board to focus on this. We are doing this on our level, but the impact is on a much smaller scale.

PakPassion.net: What are your views on tape-ball cricket as some players believe this is the reason for success of Pakistan cricket while others feel this has destroyed our cricket. 

Jalaluddin: Street cricket is played with tape-ball and anyone who plays cricket initially starts with street cricket. One can consider this as a motivator for young kids to play cricket. Once they start playing proper cricket, they start avoiding tape-ball cricket. I don't think there is anything related to tape-ball cricket that is 'destroying' our cricket. It’s a great way for a beginner to get interested in cricket. The only thing is that the because of the weight of a tape-ball, the bowling action needs to be re-adjusted, especially for fast bowlers. However, that is really a minor thing with minimal impact.


PakPassion.net: Moving on to the tour of Sri Lanka, there have been 3 teams selected in which we have seen some old faces return such as Sami as well as some new names. What is your general impression of the team? 

Jalaluddin: With regards to the formation of 3 teams, I would say that we are blindly trying to copy other nations. We don't have good enough players to make separate teams for 3 formats. We seemed to have picked all these players to make three teams to make everyone happy and hope that they perform on the international stage. 

It is this reason why we have seen some old players like Sami, Imran Farhat and Faisal Iqbal make a return to the national sides. These are all people who have been given chances – time and again – yet, they have not been able to cope with the pressures of international cricket. It is important to gauge if there has been any change in these players or if they have they improved their game? The selection process is flawed if they have been brought back just because they have done well in domestic level.

There are currently 3-4 players in this team who we are just taking as a formality and the selectors will drop again. This means that players are simply being chosen to keep people happy, when really the only thing that should matter is choosing the best team for Pakistan. If we have plenty of players to choose from then its fine, but we simply do not have the talent to make three different teams just because other countries are doing so. I feel this concept of different teams does not suite Pakistan and I completely disagree with it. 

In Mohammed Sami’s case, though, I have noticed some improvements in his game, particularly with his length. He considers himself a fast bowler so in the past he would overdo the short ball in order to get wickets. He could get a few wickets like that but the best length for a bowler is up to the batsmen. Maybe this is the reason why he is back. I have no problem if he is coming back due to this improvement but, if the reason is his domestic form alone then I am afraid it makes no sense. Change for the sake of change is not a good option!


PakPassion.net: Many thanks for your time. 

Jalaluddin: Thank you.

Discuss!