Former pakistani skipper Imran Khan says,Whitewash against Bangladesh a low point in Pakistan's cricket history
Karachi: Former Pakistan skipper Imran Khan joined the chorus of
angry fans on Thursday and ex-cricketers over the national team's ODI whitewash
in Bangladesh, terming the 0-3 loss as a "low point in Pakistan cricket
history".
Imran, speaking on
a local television channel, said a culture of nepotism, favouritism and
bypassing of merit had resulted in Pakistan cricket hitting a new low.
"What do we expect from a weak cricket structure where we
have a mismanaged domestic structure. This series loss is a low point in our
cricket history," he said.
The whitewash in
Bangladesh has seen Pakistan slip to eight position in the International
Cricket Council rankings just above Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.62-year-old, who
led Pakistan to their only World Cup triumph in 1992, said the problems in
Pakistan cricket had to be addressed at the management level first.
"Pakistan
cricket will not improve as long as there are people in the cricket board who
have come through nepotism and without any merit. Sadly the people in our
cricket board don't have any knowledge of cricket," he said.
"We have so
much talent but a poor and weak cricket system does not allow this talent to be
realised."
Imran feels
Pakistan has a lot of talent cricketers.
"Other greats
have identified Pakistan as having the best talents, so where are we going
wrong?," Imran asked.
He said the
domestic cricket needed to be overhauled so that talent is identified at an
early stage and groomed properly.
Pointing figure at
a weak domestic system, Imran said Pakistan's best batsman at present,
Misbah-ul-Haq only established himself in the national team at the age of 34
while Saeed Ajmal also came in late.
Imran said it was
time Pakistan adopted the blueprint being followed in Australian cricket and
lift the quality of its domestic cricket competition.
"Australia
has won the World Cup the most times by any country and since I have played in
their domestic competition I know it is because they have the best and most
competitive domestic structure."
"It's due to
sub-standard teams in the domestic cricket that the talent in Pakistan does not
get polished," he insisted."
