Basit Ali, who used to be a cricketer, has asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to focus on Test matches to build a more solid base for the national team. This comes after series of underwhelming performances including a shameful 10 wicket loss against Bangladesh in the first test match that took place in Rawalpindi.
Ali was also unhappy with the PCB’s recent decision to organize a One Day Champions Cup along the Test matches and advocated for a paradigm shift in making sure such moves would not be repeated again. Emphasis was everywhere to diaspora contributions in this regard as Ali argued an American citizen won’t enhance cricket in Pakistan.
Pakistan, according to him, does not have the luxury of imitating the Australian, New Zealand and British cricketing methodologies any longer. Rather he suggested: “Let’s borrow ideas from BCCI available in the neighbouring country”.
After test matches, there will be one day affair called the Champion’s Cup with respect to the ODI being labelled the Champions Trophy. After which it will be compulsory for all test playing nations to follow. Pakistan has assimilated the english, aus and new zeal chess systems. India is right next to us; please copy their system too. One should be smart enough to appreciate and practice copying. In short, one does not have to give one’s head to do only what India is doing said Ali on his YouTube channel.
He also gave an instance of Duleep Trophy in India which is a four day match and is held to build up the Indian players which also confirms the necessity of Test Matches.
“The Duleep Trophy is about to be played now. Is it a T20 or Is it a One-Day tournament? It is a four day tournament. That is why they have been so successful; they concentrated on strengthening their base,” Ali said.
In the above remarks, Basit Ali’s comments clearly show the importance of Test cricket in the cabinet for long term benefits. His plea to amend means that for a change, Pakistan should train more red-ball players along the lines of BCCI which has been very successful for Indian cricket of late.
