Former Pakistan leg-spinner Danish Kaneria brutally slammed the country’s cricket system after Pakistan lost the Test series against England 0-2.
Kaneria questioned almost everything surrounding the team, from selection and coaching to domestic cricket and the accountability of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Pakistan suffered a 194-run defeat at Lord’s in the second Test, giving England an unassailable lead in the three-match series. The loss was followed by several major changes in the Pakistan camp.
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Seven players have been released from the squad ahead of the third Test, while head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul have also been removed from their positions.
For Kaneria, though, the problems cannot be fixed by making a few changes in the middle of a series. He feels Pakistan cricket has lost the fight and competitiveness that once made the team difficult to beat.
‘There Is No Fight’ In Pakistan Cricket
Kaneria believes the constant changes in leadership and selection have made things worse rather than better.
“It’s a shame that after 70 years, Pakistan has gone through such a disaster. There is no logic, selection committee, or play. They are just good for nothing. You see, such a bad performance. If a person loses, he tries and fights before losing. The fight has to be visible. Here, there’s no fight. No one knows anything. The team selection committee is responsible, but they are not responding. First you made Babar the captain, then removed him. But there should be a reason. ‘Let’s make Babar the captain. Let it run for 1-3 years.’ But then you removed him from there, then made him captain again. Now you are talking about removing him again. Your cricket won’t improve like this,” Kaneria told IANS in an exclusive interaction.
He also questioned why Pakistan appointed coaches if they were going to make changes after only a short period.
“You brought coach Sarfaraz. You brought him for 3 months. You said he is going to be removed. Umar Gul is going to be removed. Then why did you bring him? When this cricket was making noise in the middle, I was happy that Yunus Khan is coming as a chief selector. The team will improve. Because I know him pretty well. And he has that knowledge. Because he himself is a hardworking boy. He has come a long way in cricket. Because he is a very straightforward person. He talks straightforwardly. He kept his terms and conditions, and the PCB refused. You need to bring someone who can take losses and wins on himself.
“And Younis is such a person. But what about the current cricket? They have made it very bad. They don’t have a bowler. You are going to Test cricket. You have a 120 bowler. You don’t have a baller who can hit 140-150. You don’t even have a spinner. If you look at it, bowlers win matches for you in Test cricket. Muhammad Abbas has been playing county cricket in England for a long time. He has experience, and you drop him! Then there was Noman Ali, a left-arm spinner. He was bowling so well. Even today he is playing in the county. They must have called him to England to play county for some valid reason, right? You remove whoever performs well. Sajid Khan is playing and performing. You dropped him,” he added.
Kaneria Questions Pakistan’s Bowling Attack
Kaneria was particularly unhappy with Pakistan’s bowling options.
Mohammad Abbas was one of the better performers for Pakistan at Lord’s. He finished the Test with nine wickets, including a five-wicket haul in England’s second innings.
However, Pakistan struggled to put enough pressure on England’s batters, and Kaneria feels the team does not have enough quality options in the bowling department.
“And the bowling attack is pathetic. Who is Muhammad Shahzad? Where did he come from? He doesn’t have any line or length. No swing, no reverse swing. Nothing. Then you see the batting conditions. Which players do you bring? I don’t understand Babar Azam. You can’t hit a drive openly in England. There is seam and swing in England. You have to play square there. This is common sense. As a bowler, I am telling you that if you have played so much cricket in England, then you play square there because the ball seams and swings. That bowler makes you hit two fours. You hit fours on the cover drive. People clap.
“You say “Oh, what a drive I have”. The bowler wants the ball to go there. He will eat two fours. He will eat three fours. He will bring in the slip for the fourth. That slip is standing for a reason. That’s why it is a trap. And you play so much brand of cricket. You don’t understand anything. You see Rizwan. And Babar Azam’s dismissal. It was the worst dismissal. It was a tail-ender dismissal. Where is the head? Where is the leg? Nothing? You were not in the line of ball against Jofra. It looked so weird. It looked so bad.
“Like a player of the calibre of Babar Azam is getting out like this. This is pathetic. And then you are keeping Rizwan for so long. I don’t know what he is doing. Why is he even there? His keeping is average. His batting is getting pathetic. And you play such a shot in Test cricket. Is there anyone to tell him or not? I have just heard that he changed seven players for the 3rd Test. Making such massive changes in the middle of the series, you didn’t know whom to pick and whom to not when you selected the squad?”
Seven Players Released Ahead Of Third Test
Pakistan have already made major changes before the third Test in Birmingham.
Seven players, including Mohammad Rizwan and Salman Ali Agha, have been released from the squad. Five uncapped players have been added as Pakistan look to make changes after losing the first two Tests.
Kaneria questioned whether such a large change was really the right way to respond after two defeats.
‘They Have Ruined Cricket’
Kaneria also compared Pakistan’s situation with Bangladesh and said other teams have managed to develop clear strengths.
“I give credit to the Bangladesh team. They lost the second test; it’s okay, but winning the first test in Australia against Australia is not that easy. They have 140+ bowling bowlers at least. And we don’t have anything. That trend is over. The trend of fast bowlers, of good spinners. There is no spinner. There is no batter. There is no bowler. I don’t know why they are playing cricket even. I mean, you see, all over the world, people are making fun of us.
“Fan following has ended. I meet so many people. They say, sir, we have stopped watching. It’s a waste of time. So, when you do this, your fan following will obviously end. People won’t be interested. Then your broadcasters will say for whom should we do this? And they will waste money. Nasser Hussain has said such a big thing that this team is not in level with even the county team. Not even club cricket of first division. It’s not even that. They said such a big thing. It’s just a waste of time. You come and waste people’s money. Buy a ticket. Do this, do that. I mean, give something to the public! Only cricket was a good thing left in Pakistan. And they have ruined cricket too. Literally, there should be accountability.”
Kaneria Calls For Accountability
According to Kaneria, fixing Pakistan cricket must start with the people running the game.
He wants administrators to appoint people based on merit, give coaches enough time to build a team and avoid making constant changes.
“The administration should play an important role. You bring good people in it who are honest who don’t cheat who don’t pick up the players on the sheet based on their relations with them. If they are good, then pick them up. But there should be accountability. You bring such people. Then you focus on coaching. Give a year’s time. Bring in a good coach. But this is not a coaching material. Sarfaraz is not the right person. No matter how much he has played but he is not that experienced. Umar is a fast bowler. He understands. But they need to build up a team. You see the coach of Bangladesh who is doing well.
“One of the best coaches ever. You bring such a coach from outside because they work on discipline. They don’t let anyone come into their work. But PCB can’t handle if they are disciplined. Aqib Javed, who first became a director then became a selector, and he kept getting some positions one after the other. But where is your cricket going? You see what has happened to cricket? I mean, you don’t have any bowling or batting. Your quality cricket is over. We also used to lose. But fight and lose. At least fight. Fight, Try at least! But there is no effort. You come in. You are getting money. There is a contract. Who will ask? Stamp is there. Star is there. They should be very strict.”
Domestic Cricket Also A Major Concern
Kaneria believes the problems at international level are closely linked to the weakening of Pakistan’s domestic system.
He pointed to India’s focus on first-class cricket and said Pakistan should learn from the systems used in countries such as England and Australia.
“I like how the BCCI have put in their contracts that first class cricket is important. At least you play 5 to 6 games. None of our boys play domestic. And this downfall of Pakistan cricket started when the structure of domestic cricket changed. Because earlier when we used to play there used to be a trophy which our associations used to play. Then there used to be a trophy tournament in which the department used to play.
“In the association, some players also had to take the association because they had voting. But the rest were strong. And the department used to pay. So they used to take the best players. As a result, Pakistan’s cricket continued to improve. But when the department destroyed cricket, made the players unemployed. You gave it to the regions. They destroyed the boys. So you increased the quantity, but the quality of the players is not there at all. It’s zero.
“No country removes its domestic structure. I don’t know what came to their minds. They themselves have played so much in England. England’s structure has been going on for years. They didn’t change it. Why are you bringing someone’s model to a country where this model cannot work? You know how much corruption there is in the association. There are a lot of problems. Because there is no accountability there either. The accounting system in England is there is accountability for everything. That’s why they have good players. Australia have Sheffield Shield. They have kept their structure the same.”
‘Pakistan Cricket Has Been Destroyed’
Kaneria believes the decision to move away from departmental cricket has hurt the quality of players coming through the system.
“But Pakistan’s cricket has been destroyed. I will give the reason for this. First, the players don’t play Domestic cricket. And second, you closed the department cricket and handed it over to the association. That is very pathetic. And because of this, today we see literally no one wants to watch a game. Why will he waste his time? Why will he wake up in the morning and watch? What is there to do? There should be some interest in the game. But people’s interest is diminishing. And this is just today. You see that people are talking less about the Test cricket series and more about how big of sweaters they are wearing. They are talking about that. Because there is nothing else to talk about.”
Questions Over Babar’s Captaincy
The former Pakistan international also questioned the team’s plans for the future, especially when it comes to captaincy.
“I don’t know what will happen. There should be accountability. If you remove Babar from the captaincy, who will you appoint as captain? It is beyond my understanding.”
Kaneria Blames PSL-Heavy Selection
Kaneria also feels Pakistan are not doing enough to find and develop talent through domestic cricket.
He believes too much importance is being given to the Pakistan Super League (PSL), while selectors are not spending enough time watching first-class cricket.
“The reason is that the talent pool has been eliminated. There is no doubt there’s talent pool in Pakistan but this selection happens mostly based on PSL. No one comes to play there, but that’s the benchmark sadly. Domestic cricket is very tough. The conditions there are very tough. So many selectors are there. But why don’t the selectors go to the ground to watch domestic matches? Why don’t they identify the players?
“If they are paying you, why are they paying you? If you come on a tour, you will go on a tour, sit at home, call a meeting, have tea and coffee and make a team. This is not right. In our time, selectors used to come to the ground and talk to the players. Umpires played a major role in this. Umpires used to talk to the selectors to identify the players ans used to say ‘This player has a lot of talent. Keep an eye on this player. He is a youngster but very talented.’ Umpires were good at that time. They had cricketing knowledge. That is not happening now. Umpires are trying to befriend the players.
“This is the reason why the selectors go to the ground to identify the players. You don’t identify the players. Are there no spinners in Pakistan? Are there no leg-spinners? Are there no off-spinners? Are there no left-arm spinners? If a good player is on the team, you remove him from the team. And then there’s no replacement for him. I don’t know where people like Muhammad Ali Shehzad come from. This is the bowling attack in Test cricket?? Thank God, Abbas takes five scalps. He is experienced. He knows how to bowl. Your main bowler in the team is Abbas. Is there a bowler to support him? Is there a bowler to play bowling with him? No!”
Pakistan’s Batting Also Lacks Depth
Kaneria feels the same problem exists in the batting department, with too much dependence on a few established players.
“The same is the case with batting. One gets out, the other says you go, I’ll come soon so that my tea doesn’t get cold. That’s the story and that’s the case with these guys.”
He believes there is not enough competition for places in the Pakistan team, which has allowed some players to remain in the side without consistent performances.
“There are only a few players around whom Pakistan cricket revolves. There is no improvement. Need a strong coach and a strong selection committee. Everyone creates drama nowadays. You have to put the country on top. You scrap everything, see who is captaining in domestic, who is good, call him up, call people accordingly and form a new team. Give Pakistan a new team, new players and give them a good plan as to what they’ve to do.
“Bring in the coach, tell him we’re giving you 1 year, you win or lose but we will take a report from you after a year. There’ll be accountability then. I remember when we started with the Pakistan cricket team, and it was the 2002 or 2003 World Cup…and General Tauqir Zia took a stand saying, ‘let’s come up with youngsters, 2-3 seniors, and we’ll go with that.’ He took a stand, and things kept going smoothly. That’s how things are supposed to happen. But now, these guys keep changing the topic whenever the fingers are pointed at them. They divert everyone’s mind.”
Kaneria Wants A Fresh Start
Kaneria’s solution is not another short-term change. He wants Pakistan to rethink how players are selected, how domestic cricket is run and how coaches and administrators are held accountable.
He believes the team needs a clear plan, a strong selection committee and an experienced coach who is given enough time to build a side.
Pakistan’s recent results have only increased the pressure, but Kaneria’s concerns go beyond the scorecards. His biggest worry is that the team has lost the fighting spirit that was once associated with Pakistan cricket.
“We also used to lose. But fight and lose. At least fight. Fight, try at least! But there is no effort.”
For now, Pakistan will head into the third Test with a heavily changed squad. But if Kaneria’s assessment is anything to go by, the country needs much more than a few changes to its playing XI to get its cricket back on track.