By Sikander Hayat
Pakistan cricket team captain Muhammad Yousuf has said that T20 cricket is affecting Pakistan’s performance in test cricket. He made these comments after losing the Boxing Day test match to Australia. I believe that it is not the T20 cricket which is hampering Pakistan’s test cricket but wrong selection for each format is to be blamed. Pakistan have lost last three series in Australia 3-0 , 3-0 and 2-1 respectively under different captains and at a time when there was no T20 cricket around. So blaming T20 is not the answer to our problems. Instead embracing it as part of future of cricket will make the job easier.
Pakistan has bundles of talent in its domestic cricket but we keep insisting on using the same players for every format and even when cricket board shows some courage to leave these powerful players out, the powerful lobby in Pakistani media comes into action and put so much pressure on the cricket board that they have to bring these players back into the team or they lose their jobs.
Pakistan must have different teams for T20s, one dayers and test matches. There are so many well paid international opportunities these days
that every player who has some talent will get a good contract somewhere in world cricket. For example Pakistan players are participating in domestic T20 tournaments in Australia. Younis Khan has played for Western Australia in the Australian first class cricket. Many Pakistani players have contracts with English counties where they play one dayers, T20s and the first class cricket. Pakistani players also played in ICL and IPL. All these examples show that players have many opportunities these days to earn a good living and it is not like old days when only playing for international side was an option to earn good money.
It is paramount that we don’t destroy the careers like that of Asim Kamal, who was a natural test player but Pakistan cricket board killed his career by insisting on players like Afridi who are fit for T20s to play in the middle order for Pakistan which was the place for people like Asim Kamal.
Pakistan needs to assess player on the basis of how they perform in the domestic cricket tournaments. The players who perform in the domestic T20 should get a chance in international T20, the players who perform well
in first class should play in tests and the players who play well in one dayers should get picked for ODIs.
Only by making the right selection for each format will set us free and will help Pakistan to build their reputation as power house of cricket in all three formats. Just because we are doing badly in one format so we should destroy our advantage in other formats. This is definitely not the right way to go.
Pakistan cricket team captain Muhammad Yousuf has said that T20 cricket is affecting Pakistan’s performance in test cricket. He made these comments after losing the Boxing Day test match to Australia. I believe that it is not the T20 cricket which is hampering Pakistan’s test cricket but wrong selection for each format is to be blamed. Pakistan have lost last three series in Australia 3-0 , 3-0 and 2-1 respectively under different captains and at a time when there was no T20 cricket around. So blaming T20 is not the answer to our problems. Instead embracing it as part of future of cricket will make the job easier.
Pakistan has bundles of talent in its domestic cricket but we keep insisting on using the same players for every format and even when cricket board shows some courage to leave these powerful players out, the powerful lobby in Pakistani media comes into action and put so much pressure on the cricket board that they have to bring these players back into the team or they lose their jobs.
Pakistan must have different teams for T20s, one dayers and test matches. There are so many well paid international opportunities these days
that every player who has some talent will get a good contract somewhere in world cricket. For example Pakistan players are participating in domestic T20 tournaments in Australia. Younis Khan has played for Western Australia in the Australian first class cricket. Many Pakistani players have contracts with English counties where they play one dayers, T20s and the first class cricket. Pakistani players also played in ICL and IPL. All these examples show that players have many opportunities these days to earn a good living and it is not like old days when only playing for international side was an option to earn good money. 
It is paramount that we don’t destroy the careers like that of Asim Kamal, who was a natural test player but Pakistan cricket board killed his career by insisting on players like Afridi who are fit for T20s to play in the middle order for Pakistan which was the place for people like Asim Kamal.
Pakistan needs to assess player on the basis of how they perform in the domestic cricket tournaments. The players who perform in the domestic T20 should get a chance in international T20, the players who perform well
in first class should play in tests and the players who play well in one dayers should get picked for ODIs. Only by making the right selection for each format will set us free and will help Pakistan to build their reputation as power house of cricket in all three formats. Just because we are doing badly in one format so we should destroy our advantage in other formats. This is definitely not the right way to go.
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