Sourav Ganguly reckons Pakistan needs to improve First Class cricket

Former Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly has recently remarked that the only way Pakistan cricket can improve is by improving their domestic cricket. The men in green had an embarrassing time in their marquee clash against India in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. They suffered a 124 run defeat in the match. The thing that looked worse was the fact that they succumbed without giving any competition to the Indian team.

Speaking to geo.tv, Sourav Ganguly noted that the Pakistan team cannot give the excuse that they cannot revamp their domestic cricket despite having such immense talent. He sensed the urgency for something to be done. He urged that the senior players and former cricketers need to be consulted in order to improve the situation of Pakistan cricket.

“Pakistan needs to restructure its domestic system; you have to improve your First Class cricket. You have to play regular cricket. I can’t accept that a country, which has got immense talent, cannot fix its First Class cricket,” said Sourav Ganguly.

“Something needs to be done for Pakistan cricket. Wasim, Waqar, Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik…(senior Pakistani cricketers) need to be consulted because a good Pakistani side is important for world cricket. With time their performances are going down,” he added further.

Succumbing without showing resistance

He rued the fact that the highly-anticipated clash between India and Pakistan went down as a one-sided affair. He recalled that it has been the same in the recent years. The last time the two teams had a close game was in the ICC World T20 in 2007.

“The last intense contest between the two sides was in the 2007 T20 final when Misbah took the game to the end after that nothing such match happened. What a team it was in the past. There were Javed Miandad, Salim Malik, Wasim, Waqar, Abdul Qadir. It is a game of cricket- one side wins, one side loses but there should be a competition,” said the former cricketer.

When asked if Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed will learn his lesson from this, Sourav Ganguly opined that a captain is only as good as his team. “Captain doesn’t win without having a good team,” he conceded.