Javed Miandad not in favour of star cricketers coaching U-19 teams

It turned quite a few heads when Rahul Dravid decided to coach the India-A and U-19 teams ahead of the national team. Moreover, he also resigned as Delhi Daredevils‘ coach and gave up cricket commentary to avoid conflict of interests. He felt that his experience would be much more useful for young budding cricketers rather than experienced professional cricketers. Dravid’s hard work and sacrifices paid off as the U-19 team managed to lift the World Cup this year.

While a lot of cricketers, former and current, have praised Rahul Dravid and his India Under-19 boys for their spectacular performance in lifting the World Cup title, Javed Miandad believes young cricketers should not be given star cricketers as coach. He explained that these young cricketers should not focus on the basics of their game at this level.

Javed Miandad defends Pakistan U-19 team

Miandad said that he is not a fan of high-profile coaches at the U-19 level. “Having a coach like Rahul Dravid sounds very exciting but I have never been a great supporter of big name coaches at such a level. At this level, it more about guidance than someone teaching you the basics of the game as that should have been done at the earlier stages of a player’s development,” Miandad told Times of India.

Miandad also defended Pakistan Under-19 team, who lost the semi-final to India by a large margin. “The loss to India in the ICC Under-19 World Cup was by a big margin of 203 runs which is hard to take but if truth be told, our team was lucky to have progressed that far given the inexperience of our players. Of course, victory and defeat are part of any sport, but we need to accept that there was a huge difference in terms of skills between both teams,” Javed Miandad said.

“India is a huge country with a bigger population than Pakistan, yet our players are able to challenge India in cricket which tells me that we have the potential, but we simply do not have the system that can support and get the best out of that potential,” he added.

‘The authorities destroyed the system with their unprofessional behavior’

Javed Miandad also criticized the infrastructure in Pakistan heavily and said that it is hindering cricket’s growth in the country. “From the lack of good training facilities to sub-standard wickets, the problems that our youngsters face in playing cricket are just indescribable. We have children starting to play cricket in side streets instead of learning their game in proper grounds. When people understand how our kids learn their cricket, then they will understand the reason for our current cricketing issues,” he said.

Further, he lashed out at the authorities for their unprofessionalism. “I am sorry, but the present-day authorities due to their unprofessional behavior have destroyed the system that used to produce teams which could beat the top teams of the world like the West Indies at a time when they were unbeatable,” Miandad concluded.

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