Perhaps the one thing, which divides opinions the most between cricket fans, is often the rather dichotomous view regarding talent and performance. The current condition of Pakistani cricket further fuels this debate as more often than not, fans tend to wonder, “Why can’t some players translate their abilities into performances?”

Similarly, some can’t help but question, “Is our legacy as the fast-bowling powerhouse coming to an end?” Some blame the lack of talent, and others believe the issue lies with our domestic structure. Yet, many more blame poor selection choices. Indeed, such thought-provoking questions provide a route for valid criticism of the game. Therefore, with similar enquiries in mind, PakPassion.net caught up with retired Pakistani batsman and former chief selector, Aamer Sohail, for his views on the recently distributed central contracts, as well as his general analysis on the current state of Pakistani cricket.

Currently, a lot of questions are being raised about the central contracts that have been offered to Pakistani players in Categories A, B, and C. Abdur Rehman, a useful left-arm orthodox spinner, was given a Category A contract along with the “magician”, Saeed Ajmal. On the 31 year-old Rehman’s seemingly surprising contract offer, Aamer Sohail responded, “He (Abdur Rehman) has been performing relatively well, and he deserves to be given a promotion. I think his selection is okay.”

However, when asked about Abdul Razzaq’s Category B offer, Aamer claimed, “I am very much surprised by that. The thing is, you keep on hearing about the ‘rebuilding phase’, and then you take a backward step by bringing back a person who you thought would not be in the Pakistani side in the future.”

Razzaq, who is often admired for his clean-hitting and strokeplay was considered to be out of the squad after his lacklustre performance in the World Cup 2011. Therefore, his inclusion into the list of centrally contracted players came as quite a surprise to many.

Elaborating further on the future of the swashbuckling all-rounder (who was once expected to replicate Imran Khan’s performances), Aamer stated, “What you have to really look into is where you want to play him. If you want to again try Razzaq in an ODI or a Test match, then I don’t think he has the required fitness to perform. Maybe you could choose him for T20 but given his track record, he hasn’t been able to consistently bowl a full quota of overs while batting at position seven or eight.”

Apart from Abdur Rehman and Abdul Razzaq, many have also questioned the return of Imran Farhat into the side. However, Aamer was more accepting of his inclusion and maintained, “He (Imran Farhat) had a serious problem with his batting technique. He has played for Pakistan previously and as long as Farhat has overcome those batting issues, then I don’t mind his inclusion.”

Aamer Sohail also had a few words to say about Sohail Tanvir, the left-arm medium-fast bowler who is known to perform well with the bat when needed. Tanvir missed out on International cricket for quite some time due to the effects of a knee injury and therefore, his name being mentioned in the contract was unexpected as well. On Tanvir, Aamer affirmed, “We were expecting this. They want to fit him into the T20 format because while playing domestically, Tanvir has batted and bowled well (as captain in the Faysal Bank T20 tournament).”

Although ‘tried and tested’ players have been offered contracts over those who were recently playing for the international team (such as the right-handed batsman Usman Salahuddin), one can also take some positives from the recent contract distribution. For instance, many promising youngsters, such as Rameez Raja Jr., Sharjeel Khan, and Junaid Khan, have been offered a Category C contract. However, on the inclusion of relatively uncapped medium pacers in Category C, Aamer alluded to the importance of being innovative and mentioned, “You really have to think out of the box and start introducing talent as in the future, medium pacers won’t really be the answer.”

Whereas introducing new talent into the team can certainly be seen as a move in the right direction, proper nurturance of that talent is just as important as recognising it. Whilst acknowledging this perspective in regards to finding alternatives to medium pacers, Aamer compared the condition of English cricket to that of Pakistan: “In order to find fast-bowlers, you really have to look around. I mean you have to go out and look for the talent and more importantly, you have to nurture it. The problem with Pakistani cricket at the moment is comparable to that of English cricket of the past."

"Remember when a lot of County cricketers retired, they went into coaching and after, their emphasis turned into forcing the coaching manual onto the players. This takes away the natural ability of the cricketers and because of this process, English cricket struggled for a long time. However, now we are seeing some changes in English cricket. Now, to a greater extent, the focus is on natural talent, aggression, and positivity. This has brought results for English cricket and they are back on track and producing high quality cricketers."

Speaking about Pakistani cricket in relation to this phenomenon, he further elaborated, “Same thing happens in Pakistan. After retiring, the players go into coaching but they don’t have the proper experience. They don’t know how to encourage the natural talent and also, how to equip players technically without taking away from the natural flair at the same time.”

At the moment, many of the issues affecting Pakistani cricket can be solved by having a solid system in place. To encourage the "aggression and positivity", Aamer claimed that the foundation of cricket in Pakistan needs to be stronger: "When I was growing up, we had a very strong club structure. We not only had leagues, but we also had school tournaments and intercollegiate tournaments. Therefore, by the time we were representing our cities or divisions, we were already well-equipped and had obtained the right kind of cricketing information."

So while such a structure back then was conducive to promoting natural flair, Aamer stated that "nowadays, club cricket is almost redundant. The National Cricket Academy is not working as it's supposed to, and players are not getting the right kind of information. For instance, say a player works with a coach for a month or so, and then the next month, he ends up working with a coach who has a completely different style/method. In this way, these players get quite confused and often, their growth becomes stagnant and their standard of skills actually go down."

Echoing the sentiments of many fans, the former chief selector went on to say, “The thing is, with Pakistani cricket, they need to start producing quality cricketers. You know the force that Pakistani cricket used to produce? Well, this is missing at the moment.”

With respect to the debates revolving around central contracts and who deserves which Category, the batsman maintained that the “force is missing” because of “lack of infrastructure, and lack of human resource.” He further added that while the central contracts provide financial security to the players, in the grand scheme of things, “the central contract is irrelevant because you have to think beyond these matters. You have to think about those things that are going to bring positive cricket back into Pakistan, like in the old days, where Pakistan used to dominate.”

Ultimately, whether the issue is that of finding talented fast-bowlers, or that of contract assignment, according to Aamer, "what Pakistani cricket really needs is a good system in place. With a proper system, the current issues behind nurturing talent and central contract distributions will resolve themselves."