‘Lack of bench strength in all formats is a worrying sign’

Former Pakistan cricketer Azhar Mahmood has urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Management Committee Chairman Najam Sethi to focus on improve the bench strength of the national side.

The 47-year-old also recalled his discussion with former PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja on the same matter.

“One of the challenges that Sethi will face, and this is a concern that I had expressed in a recent meeting with the former PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja, was about what I deemed to be a crisis for Pakistan cricket which was the lack of backups and proper bench strength for our international side,” Mahmood wrote in his column for PakPassion.

“We seem to have an unrealistic reliance on one or two big name players with the hope that they will pull us through regardless of what opposition or match situation we face.

“My suggestion for whoever is running the PCB is to look at our junior players, and good examples could be ones who did well in the recently concluded Pakistan Junior League (PJL) or who have done well in other recent junior competitions and to work on their skills throughout the year so that they can form the Pakistan side’s bench strength.

“For that to happen, call them to the NHPC for special camps, expose them to the best coaches we can hire and see how they develop. My point is, that instead of just choosing 16 or 18 players for one series, work on a cohort of 30-35 players throughout the year to have them ready to support the national side as and when needed.”

The former all-rounder also said that change for the sake of it is counterproductive while talking about the PCB.

“One problem that we have seen in the past. whenever a PCB administration takes charge is that there seems to be no consideration given to the work done by the previous incumbents and changes are made almost for the sake of it,” he said.

“If a system has been running for a short time, there is no point completely discarding it and starting from scratch. Changes need to have a meaning to them and the next person taking over should look to work with the existing setup and change it after taking all relevant points into consideration instead of scrapping them instantly.

“A company’s personnel can change but policies should not be discarded at the drop of a hat. There needs to be continuity in the way PCB policies are changed otherwise our cricket will suffer immensely.”