Pakistan’s leading international cricketers returning to the domestic circuit has been projected as an important step towards repairing a system that has come under increasing scrutiny following the national team’s struggles across formats. Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi and several other established names have featured in domestic cricket, with greater emphasis now being placed on Pakistan players spending time in the first-class structure rather than remaining detached from it.
Former Pakistan batter Ahmed Shehzad, however, believes simply bringing the stars back is not enough. While welcoming the move, Shehzad suggested that Pakistan cricket’s deeper problems were still being brushed aside, with certain measures being highlighted publicly without addressing the weaknesses underneath. “There is no doubt that having Pakistan’s international players playing domestic cricket is a very good thing. But you also have to create the right atmosphere for those players,” Shehzad said during a discussion with Geo News.
‘Some things are being done simply to show something in the media’
Shehzad was particularly critical of what he viewed as cosmetic measures around Pakistan cricket, arguing that long-standing issues concerning fitness, coaching standards, pitches and player development had not been seriously addressed. “These are things we have not worked on for a very long time. Some things are being done simply to show something in the media,” Shehzad said.
He also questioned the purpose of asking Pakistan’s premier batters to return to domestic cricket if the conditions do not expose them to the same challenges that repeatedly trouble them at international level. “The first thing you have to look at is where your national team is struggling. Pakistan struggle on slightly quicker pitches where there is some lateral movement. That is where their technique gets exposed,” he said. “So you should prepare pitches that offer some support to the bowlers. Your batters will then learn how to cope with those conditions and how to play in them. Let them make their mistakes at this level and work on them here, because there is less pressure.”
{{/usCountry}}He also questioned the purpose of asking Pakistan’s premier batters to return to domestic cricket if the conditions do not expose them to the same challenges that repeatedly trouble them at international level. “The first thing you have to look at is where your national team is struggling. Pakistan struggle on slightly quicker pitches where there is some lateral movement. That is where their technique gets exposed,” he said. “So you should prepare pitches that offer some support to the bowlers. Your batters will then learn how to cope with those conditions and how to play in them. Let them make their mistakes at this level and work on them here, because there is less pressure.”
{{/usCountry}}Shehzad claimed that even venues traditionally known to assist bowlers were being flattened, which, according to him, defeats the purpose of using domestic cricket to prepare players for tougher international conditions. “Don’t deliberately make those pitches flat. Whatever you are doing has to be done with a purpose. You start a tournament, but your preparations are not complete,” he said.
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The former opener then turned his attention towards the standard of coaching in Pakistan’s domestic system and delivered one of his sharpest criticisms of the structure. “Believe me, the players we used to have at club level were more competitive than this. They used to play better cricket than what we are seeing now. So what is the purpose of these domestic coaches?” Shehzad said. “Unfortunately, our domestic coaches are not at the level required to groom our cricketers and youngsters so that when they reach international cricket, they don’t merely compete — they are capable of winning matches for Pakistan.”
Shehzad also argued that the technical shortcomings visible in Pakistan’s batters were evidence that the system had failed to correct flaws before players reached the international level. He ultimately warned that cosmetic changes would mean little unless the domestic structure itself was fixed. “The more mistakes you continue to make in domestic cricket, the further the Pakistan team will keep going down,” Shehzad said.