Mudassar Nazar on Pakistan cricket: We have given central contracts to players without making First-Class cricket part of that responsibility

Pakistan cricket has been hit by a massive internal tailspin marked by board changes, disciplinary inquiries, and turmoil in the dugout. | Photo Credit: AP

I have seen Pakistan cricket change its system so often that we have rarely given any system enough time to work.

For decades, we have chopped and changed First-Class cricket, tournaments, academies and the people running the game.

Every new chairman seems to bring a new idea. Instead of looking at our structure, our grounds and pitches, we keep trying to change the system.

I have been part of that system as a player and a coach. I have seen good initiatives start, produce players and then disappear. I have seen academies built and allowed to deteriorate. I have seen players come into international cricket without enough domestic cricket behind them.

When we talk about Pakistan cricket’s problems today, I don’t think we can blame one series, one coach or one selection committee.

The problem is much deeper. We have spent too many years looking for quick fixes when Pakistan cricket really needs continuity.

We are paying for that now.

I remember one tournament from the start of my career, in 1974-75, which I really enjoyed and found very challenging. I was playing for Pakistan International Airlines and, soon afterwards, for Pakistan Universities.

That year, Abdul Hafeez Kardar, the former captain of Pakistan, had imported Australian grass, and we played on grass pitches in Punjab, mainly in Lahore.

In the winter months, in January and February, the ball tended to do quite a lot. I had the highest number of catches in the slips that year. We had normal swing bowling, and not many people got runs.

A couple of years later, that tournament was gone. It had the five best teams in the country.

Unfortunately, that is what has happened over the years. Monday it is one tournament, the next day it is another. We seem to believe that if we start another competition, we will find the solution.

But the solution is not always a new tournament. Sometimes you have to look at what you already have and make it better.

The instability has also affected the administration. We have had various chairmen come in and out, sometimes within six months. At one stage, we even had two chairmen.

I was working in Pakistan at that time, and it became very difficult to run the affairs because you had to get papers signed by both of them. If either one of them put a hold on something, you couldn’t go ahead.

We have neglected the foundations for years. Now we are seeing the consequences.

Development cannot keep stopping and starting

Take the National Cricket Academy (NCA), for instance. The concept started in 2001. I was living in Manchester and was asked to come and open academies in Pakistan. I started with six junior academies, and the programme was going really well. A lot of youngsters came through.

Then 9/11 happened. Richard Pybus, who was looking after the Pakistan national team, left Pakistan for safety reasons, and I was temporarily made in charge of Pakistan. I lost that job within eight months, which was quite a long tenure for a Pakistani coach. As soon as you lose, you are out.

After I left Pakistan, I didn’t go back to the academy. There wasn’t much activity.

I returned later, in 2016 as the Director of Academies, and I continued till May 31, 2020.

During my second stint, the NCA had been revamped, and we started using it properly. It paid dividends. I can name so many players who came through that system — Mohammed Amir, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Muhammad Hasnain and Haider Ali to name a few. At one time, most of the Pakistan team had come from the NCA setup.

It was a great initiative.

But development costs money. As soon as I came out of Pakistan, they would stop giving that money to whoever was in charge. Sooner or later, they would close it down.

The same thing happened to the academies in Multan and Karachi. The facilities were there, especially in Karachi, but instead of improving them year by year, they let them deteriorate.

That is what happens when development is treated as a programme rather than a long-term system.

The domestic game needs somewhere to breathe

In Pakistan, the cricket season is 12 months a year, and we don’t even have more than 18 grounds. Those 18 grounds take the burden of First-Class cricket and all the other tournaments — approximately 131 first-class matches across three red-ball tournaments in a standard domestic season. The pitches get very, very tired.

When they become substandard, they affect the cricket we produce. When fast bowlers don’t get any help, they have to find other ways to get batsmen out. That is when they start managing the cricket ball.

Endangered tribe: Abdul Qadir embodied a spin-bowling art that Pakistan is struggling to revive.  | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives

We have always had decent spinners. But in recent times, there hasn’t been a mystery spinner or someone like Abdul Qadir. We have lost that art of producing quality spinners, too.

But the problem starts even before a player reaches First-Class cricket. Club cricket is the most important part of the grassroots structure, and we have neglected it.

When I was growing up, we had a robust club cricket system in Pakistan. In Lahore alone, there were hundreds of clubs taking part in 40- and 50-over tournaments. That was where young cricketers played regularly, competed, improved and got noticed.

Now there are hardly any tournaments because of the lack of clubs and the state of the economy. The PCB has chosen to neglect this important part of the game. The game progressively starts fading.

The PCB constitution clearly says that all regional and district presidents must ensure a minimum of two club tournaments a year. At best, only about 10 per cent deliver this. Yet no questions are asked of these office-bearers because the PCB needs their votes.

That is how the problem becomes bigger than cricket. If the base of the game is weak, you cannot keep expecting the top to remain strong.

The connection between the domestic game and the public has weakened, too.

A few years ago, if you went down the main street, there would be people playing cricket. You couldn’t take your car through without getting hit by a cricket ball. Wherever they found an empty space, they were playing. That is not the case anymore. You hardly see any crowds at cricket matches.

I have seen something similar happen in England.

In the late 1980s and 1990s, England were not winning enough matches. People started losing interest and clubs began to merge. Then England won the Ashes in 2005, and cricket started competing with rugby and football again.

That is probably what is happening in Pakistan. The national team is not doing too well, and people are fed up with the chopping and changing of cricket boards.

There is no direction. So people are trying to opt out.

Out in the cold: Mohammad Rizwan (in pic) and Imam-ul-Haq appear unlikely to figure prominently in Pakistan’s plans in the near future.  | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Players need a pathway, not just a place in the squad

When Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie were booted out, there was much hue and cry. I am not against foreign coaches. All my life, I have coached outside Pakistan, so I cannot say they shouldn’t be allowed. If they are good enough and good for the team, they should manage any team in the world.

But they have to spend time in Pakistan.

When you are on tour, you see players performing and underperforming. But you also need to watch domestic cricket and know your bench strength.

Unfortunately, the Pakistan Cricket Board is not very keen on sending the A team and the Under-19 team abroad. They have not been spending enough time on the development of the game.

In 1978, we went to England with a very young side and without much in the way of backup. We were all very young. I was one of the main bowlers, which tells you something about the standard of our bowling attack. We struggled against Chris Old, Mike Hendrick and the other specialist bowlers in those conditions. It was a two-match Test series, which we lost 0-2.

Most of the players who went on that tour became household names later. Sadiq Mohammad, Mohsin Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Raja, Sarfaraz Nawaz, Sikandar Bakht, Wasim Bari, Iqbal Qasim — most of them were youngsters then. That was one dividend the tour paid. We were exposed to international cricket early, and those players went on to develop.

Today, we finish up with a squad of about 20 to 25 players and keep rotating those players. That is not how it should be.

As soon as a Pakistan tour finishes, the players should go and play First-Class cricket. Come January and February, they must take an A team. It should consist of players who have come from domestic cricket. Those players never get the exposure before they play for Pakistan. All of a sudden, there is such a vast gulf, and then they struggle.

I pick up the paper every morning and see India U-19 playing South Africa and Australia. I see Australia playing India and England. England Lions and U-19 teams are going to South Africa. Bangladesh has been very busy with its U-19 programme.

Pakistan hardly tours at that level.

First-Class cricket cannot be optional

The team’s dismal performance in England has opened a can of worms. It was no match for England, but one must remember that the white-ball economy has changed cricket all over the world. In Pakistan, though, the connection with domestic cricket has been lost. Pakistani players don’t like playing domestic cricket. They don’t want to play. You don’t find form in international cricket. You go back to First-Class cricket and play regularly. And that is not just for yourself; it is for the country as well.

When you play as a youngster with the top players, you get better. You become a better player and develop a better understanding of the game.

I remember Greg Chappell once scored five zeros, one after another. Because of a tight schedule, he didn’t have time to go back to First-Class cricket. He was playing top-class cricket against top bowlers all the time, and they didn’t let him breathe.

He should have gone back to First-Class cricket.

Look at Virat Kohli. Such a great player, and he recently had to go back into First-Class cricket to find form. We have not done that. We have given central contracts to players without making First-Class cricket part of that responsibility.

Back to the basics: Virat Kohli made a high-profile return to domestic cricket in January 2025, playing for Delhi against Railways in the Ranji Trophy after a hiatus of more than 12 years. | Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

A central contract is given to a player so that he keeps himself fit throughout the year and is available to play for Pakistan whenever required.

That means playing First-Class cricket, playing club cricket and training throughout the year. That has not been the case in Pakistan.

The system keeps resetting itself

There is another problem: the way the board is run.

There is no consistent selection policy. People come in, bring their own people, change the format, change the First-Class structure and, six months, nine months or a year later, they are gone.

Things have to start all over again, with a new captain, a new vice-captain and a new selection committee.

So how can Pakistan perform consistently? It is impossible.

I think it is high time we took a breather and did something. Being the head of the PCB, Mr Mohsin Naqvi should invite former players and listen to those guys who want to make a difference.

I am not talking about those running their own channels and criticising Pakistan left, right and centre. Bashing Pakistan cricket with negative comments has an effect on the players, too.

We have former heroes and former players having a go at them instead of trying to work with them and find a solution.

Pakistan is a poor country. There are not as many cricket jobs available as in the rest of the cricketing world, so everybody is in a rush to get into the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Some are genuine. Those are the people the PCB should listen to. Sit down under one roof and, once and for all, come up with a system.

Then back that system. Don’t change it within six months, eight months or a year down the line.

It is not rocket science. The other countries are doing it. We have to stop starting all over again.

(The writer is a former Pakistan cricketer and a coach of repute)

Published on Sep 24, 2026

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