Cricket crisis: Time to stabilise a demoralised team (26 July 1999)

26 July 1999

Cricket crisis: Time to stabilise a demoralised team

Mazhar Abbas

Pakistan's most successful fast bowler and skipper of the national team Wasim Akram, known for bowling out his opponents with his deadly Yorkers, is at present facing, along with his team, similar kind of deliveries with the suspension of Pakistan Cricket Board.

But the man described by the Australian skipper Steve Waugh as world's most dangerous bowler and former Indian skipper Sunil Gavaskar as one of the most talented captain of the World Cup, is known for his fighting ability and as such may survive both as a player and skipper if he is exonerated by the Judicial Commission of Justice Malik Qayyum holding inquiry into the allegations of match fixing.

The changes in the cricket set-up in Pakistan must have disturbed the skipper and his players but the recent statements of the newly appointed Chairman of the ad-hoc Committee, Mujeebur Rehman, must have come as a matter of relief for them. He praised the team's performance in the last couple of months and in the World Cup. The Senate Standing Committee on Sport after meeting the players and the cricket officials is also reported to have paid tribute to the team.

There is a general consensus in the cricketing circles that all said and done Wasim Akram is still the best captain in the country while with few changes the present team is the best available. Credit for this also goes to those who had picked them. What is needed is support and sympathy to repair the shattered confidence.

The ad-hoc committee's top priority should be to facilitate the expeditious conclusion of match-fixing inquiries. In this context the anxiety of the players and well-wishers of the game merits due consideration. It is to be hoped that these problems would be sorted out before the Australian series scheduled to start in November.

Source :: The Dawn (www.dawn.com)