Lack of educated cricketers the reason for Pakistan’s downfall: PCB

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shahryar Khan was quick and direct to cite the major reason for the string of poor performances put on by the national side in the recent times.

In a recent interview, Khan pointed that only Misbah Ul Haq is a proper graduate in the side and the poor education among the players is the key reason for all the problems. “There is no graduate player in the team right now except for Misbah and the absence of educated players in the team is a primary reason for its recent downfall,”

He also added that the board, as well as the government, will take all steps to ensure that the players of the future generation are well-educated and at the same time will also take efforts to groom the current players of the team. “In future we will do our best to induct and encourage educated players into the team and also groom the existing lot of talent,” Khan added.

He further spoke on the stern nature that the board has adopted over the disciplinary issues. He made it clear that the board will not tolerate any misbehavior nor will it compromise on the discipline in the team. He cited the examples of Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad being dropped from the side on the grounds of indiscipline.

“Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal have not been selected because of disciplinary issues and we want to make it clear in future we are not going to compromise on discipline or fitness,” he said.

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He also admitted that the area of concern lies in the grass root level and accepted that there were some problems with the U19 team selection this year, wherein the deserved candidates were left out. He confirmed that strict action will be taken against the people responsible for it.

“It has come to our notice that some deserving players were left out to bring in less deserving ones and we are going to take strict action against those responsible for this. In future selection will be strictly merit and performance based,” he quoted.

Lastly, he restated the new area of focus- fitness, for the national players. He gave the example of the boot camp that the players will undergo before leaving for England this summer. “That is why we have had fresh fitness tests and now the boot camp under the supervision of military trainers in Kakul before the team leaves for England,” Shahryar Khan further said.