Do Pakistan need a coach? Maybe not
March 23, 2007
Listen to rameez raja interview by cliking the link below......
https://audiodata.cricinfo.com/db/MULTIMEDIA/100/177.1.mp3
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It's a long hard road ahead for Pakistan, and Pakistan cricket. Their World Cup hope is finished, even though they beat Zimbabwe in the last game but that didn't really make them win the World Cup. Right now they are without a captain, a coach and chairman of the cricket board, so there are many decisions that have to be taken to put Pakistan cricket right.
Looking back at Inzamam ul Haq's career as a one-day cricketer, two things come to my mind straight away - I was always struck by the abundance of talent that Inzi had, especially in the one-day game and his unruffled zen like character that allowed him to navigate chaos with authority in the one-day cricket. When you have the combination of those two ingredients then you get to be a good cricket, which I think Inzamam was.
He played all his cricket in his way. He was laid back and he came from old school of professionals who believed that cricket was divided only in batting and bowling. His method to achieve success in one-day cricket was based on the flawless ability to pace innings in tense situations. And he won Pakistan so many matches batting in that particular way against stiff oppositions.
I cannot forget the first glimpse that we had of Inzi when he appeared for the trials for the Pakistan camp. Earlier my brother, Wasim Raja, had taken the Pakistan Under-19 to West Indies in 1988 that had Inzi, and he could not stop raving about the young batsman from Multan and according to him he was right for Test cricket. It was indeed a big statement because Pakistan cricket was more renowned to produce fast bowlers from U-19 set up to step in directly into Test cricket but [we] never heard of a batsman to be that good at that level to be drafted into Pakistan team straightaway.
So, here was Inzi standing behind the nets waiting to showcase his talent to all of us and Imran [Khan]. The year, if I remember correctly, was 1989. We were having open nets at the Gaddafi centre pitch and it had gone quite dark when Imran suddenly remembered that he had to test a batsman from Multan. In dwindling light he asked Inzi to pad up and gave new cherries, I think it was Aaquib [Javed], Waqar Younis and Mosin Kamal.
So these bowlers were given brand new ball to bowl to Inzamam ul Haq and with seven minutes, literally seven minutes, all the ball were lost in the grandstand on the square leg boundary. He laid into those short pitch deliveries with so much of power that it left us absolutely amazed at the talent of this six-footer. So from a very early age Inzamam had this great ability, we could see it, to punish the best in the business.
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For starters, Pakistan need to find a captain. And in my mind the obvious choice should be Younis Khan, because he has looked impressive at times in the field. He can be temperamental, he can be mercurial, but I guess when he will be given the responsibility for a longer period then he will be able to curb his temperament and the mercurial nature that he possess. Pakistan is also in need of a coach now. Do we need a coach? That is the big question to ask. And after what has happened to Bob Woolmer, unfortunately, I do not think that many foreigners would be interested to come and take up the job straight away. So there is going to be a vacuum. We have tried Pakistani coaches but they have not been very successful. What to do? A foreign coach would not be available to come to Pakistan cricket's rescue and the available talent, the homegrown available talent, has been tried and test.
I think Pakistan can become the first country in the world to operate without a coach. They can give all the powers to the captain and he can give the team a sense of direction. Make the captain more potent, make the captain more confident and have somebody in an assistant position to help him to get his act together, or get his team's act together in nets, you know just to tidy up the things. Leave the decision making, leave the strategy bit to the captain.
It will be a huge challenge if Pakistan can take that route but I think there is a possibility that even if this is given a run for a little, it may just succeed for Pakistan cricket. It will be a huge task, it will be a huge step, but I think [it will be] a step in right direction.
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