The Absence of Professionalism

It was a good week away for me, but not one it appears for Pakistani Cricket. The two losses to South Africa, more like capitulations or decimations rather than losses, the continuing saga of Shoaib Akhtar's injury or recovery along with the ever present drama of our medical board, the consistently inconsistent selection policy and then there is Shahid Afridi. Each of these four distinct soap operas on their own may be enough to break down a team's resolve, and if recovered from would have spoken highly of a team's mental strength. Yet, on the eve of the World Cup, all four of these crises coming together is truly no more than a catastrophe for the squad.

Kamran Abbasi at PakSpin (with far greater authority than I) and I, in previous posts, have spoken about the shenanigans which are continuing at the Medical Board of the PCB, and it really doesn't seem that these shenanigans are threatening to stop at any point soon. Shoaib Akhtar, was first judged almost fit upon return from South Africa, and then we were all informed, not by the PCB, but by Shoaib himself, that his knee is injured. Next thing we know, without any work or due diligence by the PCB, Shoaib Akhtar is on a plane to London to get his knee examined. We have the selectors hoping to pick a squad for the World Cup, which is less than a month away, and yet, there is no sense of whether Umar Gul, Shabbir Ahmed or Shoaib Akhtar are going to be ready or able to participate in the World Cup which lasts almost 6 weeks. You would have thought that some lessons would have learnt from the five week tour of South Africa, where at various points, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Inzamam, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Shabbir Ahmed, Umar Gul and Mohammad Sami were all injured. Yet, it appears that the selectors have learnt none of these lessons in the squad that they've picked for the World Cup.

The selectors seem to have been smoking something really good. OH, a fellow blogger, has responded quiet vehemently to the selections for the World Cup, and truly rightfully so. The selection of Danish Kaneria just does not make sense. For the past two years he has been kept out of the squad, and even Abdur Rehman, a talented young spinner, has repeatedly been preferred to him. Now, when it comes to the greatest stage of cricket, suddenly here is Kaneria to bowl at this level. With what preparation, what track record has he been brought back? If he was going to play, or if the thought was he could, why wasn't he trialled in the ODI series against South Africa? On top of that, the selectors have chosen to persist with Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul despite no certainty that they will even be able to play even one game. Plus, why take Abdur Rehman to South Africa, if he had no chance to play in the World Cup, and for that matter why have Azhar Mahmood show up, if he wasn't going to play in South Africa. Wonderfully consistent inconsistency.

Given that talking about Shahid Afridi almost always makes me laugh, I'll talk about the ridiculous losses to South Africa over the past week. Surely, even an U-19 squad or a B team squad could have played at almost the same calibre as Pakistan did in the last two ODIs. This is not the way one of the top squads in cricket is supposed to play in the last two matches before the World Cup. If these is any kind of precursor to the performance in the World Cup, I may as well cancel my plans to watch any of Pakistan's matches because I sure as heck won't be laughing or happy about any of their performances. There was no batting, bowling or fielding performance worth getting excited about or even to be content with. There was just nothing.

And, as always, there is Shahid Afridi. There was the stunning performance in the second ODI (video here),



which truly served notice to all that yes, Shahid is back. I must say, I felt a little proud of myself for wanting Afridi back in the squad. But alas.

Afridi's decision to try to use his bat on a fan (video here) after being dismissed in the first ODI, resulted in him getting a four match suspension from the ICC.



So, not only was he gone from the last two matches of the series against South Africa, but also for the first two matches in the World Cup. Afridi's comments on landing in Karachi (video here), were ALMOST comical, specially given the fact that this is the guy who just a year ago was trying to destroy a pitch, and almost didn't even get recalled for this series or the World Cup. Shahid is truly a heartbreaker.



All in all, nothing has happened in the past two weeks which raises any optimism for the upcoming World Cup. This squad really has to try to come together and find some inner resolve to be able to get through the next two months, as the World Cup in the West Indies is truly going to test this squad's resolve. One can only hope that any failure by this squad, will not be laid squarely on Woolmer and Inzamam, but the PCB's higher ups are also held responsible in some way for this. Each and every one of these problems isn't necessarily related to the team or to individual players, but speaks to an overall absence of professionalism in the entire setup, which leeches down to individual players and interferes with their performances and how they conduct themselves on the field. This is not professional cricket we are seeing, this is gilli danda.