Legendary Pakistani allrounder Imran Khan has reportedly expressed shock over Pakistan’s defeat to Bangladesh, terming the 3-0 whitewash ‘unimaginable.’
Dawn online said Khan blamed “nepotism” in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and a mismanaged domestic structure for Pakistan’s slump, termed by many former player as the “lowest point” in the country’s cricket history.
Pakistan slipped to eight position in the International Cricket Council rankings after their loss on Wednesday, and stand just above Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
The 62-year-old Khan, who led Pakistan to its only World Cup triumph in 1992, said the rot needed to be addressed at the management level first and foremost before an overhaul came, reported Dawn.
“Pakistan’s 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,” Khan was quoted to have said in an interview on the sidelines of the by-elections in Karachi. He currently leads Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party.
In its report “Pakistan’s 3-0 loss to Bangladesh ‘unimaginable’: Imran Khan”,
Dawn said he revealed that even the great Vivian Richards of the West Indies had identified Pakistan as the “most talented” cricketing nation but a poor system meant the team never realised its true potential.
“We need to learn from countries like Australia who have ideal cricket structure,” Dawn quoted him as saying.
Source: Prothom Alo
