Modern cricket has changed. And it has changed quite dramatically over the last 10 years or so. With the advent of franchise cricket and the colossal amount of moolah involved in the game now, it is not surprising why many players prefer playing cricket with unorthodox rather than conventional methodology. A.B. de Villiers, Virat Kohli, Steven Smith, David Warner and Kane Williamson are a few of those players whose chutzpah to challenge any total has sent the cricketing world into frenzy, many a time in the recent past.

All of the aforementioned players rank among the top 10 One-Day International batsmen. There is a certain method to their madness — a method, arguably, unbeknownst to Pakistan. So, what differentiates them from the rest? What has helped them transform their game? Perhaps, it is their understanding of the game and smart utilisation of the available resources.

Compare their fitness levels, skills and abilities with the current crop of Pakistan players and it becomes evident why there is a huge void between Pakistan and Australia, England, India, New Zealand and South Africa in limited overs cricket. Some former players believe the wide gulf between Pakistan and the rest has more to do with the fact that the quality of club cricket has seriously deteriorated over the last few years. But, there is more.

Pakistan cricket once produced supremely match-aware players such as Javed Miandad. Now we moan that our players cannot take pressure ...

There was a time when the streets of Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and Rawalpindi used to be filled with kids playing cricket till maghrib. A ride around the city, no matter which, on a Saturday night would instantly give away that it is ‘warming up’ for an all-nighter. But as they say, it’s a thing of the past now. And a lot has changed due to poor law and order situation throughout the country and encroachment of playgrounds by the land mafia.

Unfortunately, there are no official stats to back this claim up but a simple survey would help understand that ‘street cricket’, once a popular evening/night activity in Pakistan, has certainly lost its charm. Whatever the reasons may be, there is absolutely no denying that Pakistan cricket, in general, has witnessed a decline in production of shrewd players as a consequence of that.

Some people attribute the decline in street cricket from Pakistan with the influx of technology in our daily lives. According to them, people, of all ages, now prefer spending their time in front of their laptops, computers and smart phones. “A player’s skills cannot be sharpened unless he has played on the streets at least once in his life,” says Waleed Hasham Khan — a local club cricketer and an associate account manager at a private firm.

Waleed claims that the technology has single-handedly bewildered the young masses of Pakistan who once enjoyed street cricket. “Even if they are out there playing on the streets, half the time they are busy on their smart phones. How can a player learn the art of street-smartness if the focus is not there?” adds Waleed. He continues on to say that the encroachment of playgrounds and land by some political parties didn’t help the cause either.

“A lot of land has been usurped by those in power and sold to construction companies for the construction of residential societies and flats,” says Waleed. According to him many of the potential players have been robbed off their future since they had no other option but to quit cricket altogether.

Some argue that Pakistan’s poor show in the limited overs game over the last few years has driven the fans away hence people are not seen playing street cricket anymore. They believe the passion fades out once the team starts losing more games instead of winning. “Sundays would be dedicated to playing cricket in all parts of the city. We would travel to play games against different teams in different areas but it’s not the case anymore,” says Usman Khan, a Pakistan cricket fan and a digital media manager by profession.

“Having witnessed the dismal performances of Pakistan of late, it has become increasingly difficult for us to play street cricket even on Sundays,” says a dejected Usman.

Apart from teaching the batsmen how to manoeuvre the ball in the gaps and the bowlers how to bowl six different deliveries on a placid surface, street cricket helps the players with one basic skill that conquers them all — how to get under the skin of the opposition — something the ODI team of Pakistan has been lacking for a while now. After all, it was the street-smartness of Javed Miandad that had got the better of Kiran More during the 1992 World Cup game between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan’s ODI ranking, too, is reflective of the fact that street cricket is on a decline and the players haven’t adapted to the modern techniques of the game as yet, let alone bringing improvisation into play. While the cricketing world keeps churning out the likes of De Villiers’ and Kohlis, Pakistan’s pursuit of decent batsmen for the limited overs game still goes on.

Former players believe, however, that the deteriorating quality of club cricket is the main reason why Pakistan cricket has nosedived in recent years.

Aamir Sohail, former Pakistan left-handed opening batsman, believes that club cricket has become redundant in Pakistan. “Even college cricket is not as strong as it used to be,” says Sohail while speaking to Dawn over the phone. “There is a reason why former players succeeded at the international level. They used to play a lot of club cricket,” says Sohail.

According to Sohail, the culture of club cricket has declined significantly over the last few years. “Club cricket helps you improve as a player. By the time you get into first-class cricket, you already know how to tackle different situations under pressure,” he adds. He thinks there is a lot of work still needed to be done at the grass-root level.

Sohail attributes the decline of street-smartness from Pakistan cricket to not following the ideal players also. “When we were playing we had the likes of Majid Khan, Mohsin Hasan Khan and Sadiq Mohammad to follow,” he says. According to him, Pakistan cricket has set a wrong precedent for the youngsters by selecting players who never valued their wicket. “Some of them did go on to succeed, but it wasn’t the ideal thing to do,” says Sohail. He also claims that Pakistan cricket is in decline because it is run by cricket-illiterate people.

Fawad Alam, who scored a century on Test debut against Sri Lanka, was approached by Dawn for his comments on the story. According to him, cricket has evolved as a game. “If you see, cricket has now become more about hitting the boundaries rather than rotating the strike,” Alam says. However, he says that he still bats the way he did before. “I believe in keeping the scoreboard ticking. As a batsman, it is very important to understand that the dot ball percentage has to be low in your innings,” adds Alam.

Alam, like Sohail, also blames the poor infrastructure of club cricket for the disappearance of street-smartness from Pakistan cricket. He questions how a player can improve if he gets to spend only 20 overs at the crease. “I believe the more time you spend at the crease, the smarter you get. I tell everyone to focus on rotating the strike rather than looking to hit a boundary on every ball,” says Alam. “You can put the bowlers under pressure by keeping the scoreboard ticking. You do get a bad ball every over if you keep the bowlers and fielders on their toes,” adds Alam. He continues to say that it is disappointing to see that club cricket has largely been reduced to T20 affairs now.

“When I scored a half-century against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup in 2014, which helped us win the game, Zaheer Abbas came to meet me and congratulated me for ‘creating’ singles when there were none available. This is what street-smartness does to you,” says an exuberant Alam.

However, according to Syed Shahabuddin Kirmani, the former vice chairman of Zone I, Karachi City Cricket Association, the disappearance of street-smartness from Pakistan cricket is largely because of the lack of interest of the youngsters and some concerned authorities. “There was a time when people ranging between 3,000 to 4,000 in number used to attend the finals of the local clubs. Now nobody even bothers to watch the domestic games played in the stadiums,” says Kirmani.

Javed Miandad, former dashing middle order batsman, in a telephonic conversation with Dawn says Pakistan cricket is not being able to produce street-smart cricketers because of the failure of the system. Miandad criticises the Pakistan Cricket Board for not allowing the expansion of cricket in Pakistan. According to him, corruption has engulfed the PCB and selections are done purely on the basis of nepotism. He says that the PCB should have headquarters located in all the provinces of Pakistan and the chairman PCB should travel to all the provinces to ensure that the problems are resolved at the grass roots level. Miandad believes that former Test players and first class cricketers should be given a chance to run the PCB since they have more knowledge about the game than those who have played none.

The lack of interest in street cricket and domestic cricket is a dangerous sign for Pakistan. With more people losing their passion for the game, Pakistan’s slump in the ODI rankings may just be the beginning of the end.

The writer is a member of staff

He tweets @HumayounAK

Published in Dawn, EOS, April 23rd, 2017