Our Cricket Managers should unlearn their tendency to destroy great cricketers

Pakistan’s not-so-unconvincing victory against New Zealand on 23-09-2012, and extremely heartening triumph over Bangladesh on 25-09-2012 have gone a long way in proving that if the cricket bosses learn to keep the morale of our star performers high, and to resist their natural instincts to make unnecessary experiments in the making of our playing elevens, Pakistan has the potential to become regular world-beaters. Hasn’t Hafeez’s unflinching faith in the ability of Imran Nazir paid? Hasn’t Kamran Akmal proved to the captain of the test and one-day teams that more often than not he can turn the tables on the opposition? Hasn’t Nasir Jamshed after inexplicable periods of having remained in wilderness established his class beyond any shadow of doubt? Add to them the name of Umar Akmal who exploded on the cricketing scene with incredible displays of high-quality batsmanship, and then was pushed back into non-contention on the basis of a couple of low scores. He has since then been struggling to regain his confidence. His poor shot-selection should be attributed to his confused state of mind. There are many knowledgeable experts and analysts of cricket who believe that Umar Akmal is a worthy successor to the standards of batsmanship that the greats like Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam ul Heque set. Once he regains his confidence and moves away from the sword of the fear that he isn’t a certain selection, he will be our most trustworthy match-winner.
As for Asad Shafique, he is a brilliant player, and his place in the test side is secure. Once Shoaib Malik calls it a day it will be Asad Shafique’s turn to show his class.
The important thing is to stop making experiments, and keeping each and every player in the team in a state of uncertainty about his future.
Apart from the team that is participating in the World Cup there are players like Ahmad Shahzad and Junaid Khan who have the potential to walk into any winning combination. They should be given a feeling that they will always be in the reckoning. Our cricket managers are famous for their tendency to destroy great budding careers. They should now unlearn this tendency. (This Column was first published on 27-09-2012)