I am of the firm opinion that the present Karachi cricket set-up is just not fit to bring back the game in the metropolis on right track. The people available or elected to serve the Karachi city cricket lack vision, will, capacity and competency to run the game. Furthermore, all of them are now past their retirement age and must quit. In my opinion, these officials lack any motivation, planning or interest to improve Karachi cricket and that includes veterans like Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) president Syed Siraj-ul-Islam Bukhari, Ejaz Farooqi, Shafique Kazmi, Tauseef Sidique, Mushir Rabbani, Mehtab Ahmed, Zafar Ahmed etc.

Because of this present scenario, all aspects of the game are suffering. A clear evidence of this is the ordinary performance put up by the two Karachi teams — Dolphins and Zebras — in the National Twenty20 Championship recently. Both the oufits failed to even qualify for the semi-finals among the 14 regions contesting the competition.

A good performance by any team is ensured by a few key factors which are:

—    Good selection of the team (combination, format)

—    Strong and astute leadership (from captain, coach and the manager)

—    Team spirit (players and officials must own the team)

—    Sound preparation for any competition (thorough practice, proper planning)

—    On the spot decision-making (knowledge of the game and honesty)

—    Rapport between the players, captain, coach and the management.

It pains me to note that the two Karachi teams lack all the above-mentioned ingredients and that is the main reason why the players were not able to deliver in the Twenty20 event.

The players may be good in their individual capacity and have even performed well in most of the previous tournaments but they fail to gel in as a team and, more importantly, do not feel for its performance and standing.

In comparison, I would like to cite the example of Sialkot Stallions who won the tournament on as many as six occasions, simply because all of their players owned the team and sincerely worked for its rise.

As for the Karachi teams, I personally know that some of the main players never owned their teams and that list includes big names like Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Sami, Sohail Khan, Faisal Iqbal, Fahad Iqbal, Atif Maqbool, Uzair-ul-Haq, Shahrayar Ghani.It is very clear now that there was no objective in the minds of the selectors while picking the two T20 teams from Karachi. It appeared that the players with big names were obliged at the cost of Karachi cricket. It was common sense that the Karachi Dolphins squad is to be picked with the aim to win the T20 championship and therefore should have fielded the strongest, most balanced combination. On the other hand, the Karachi Zebras were to provide opportunity for the young and upcoming talented players to show their skill and talent at this level.

On the contrary, the Karachi Dolphins team suffered due to major blunders in selection which obviously led to poor performance in the high-profile event.

Only five specialist batsmen were selected in Asad Shafique, Khalid Latif, Fawwad Alam, Khurram Manzoor and Shazaib Hasan. Moreover, the presence of two players — Misbah Khan and Amin-ur-Rehman — unnecessarily put a burden on the team management and created problems in the selection of final playing XI.

Similarly, the Karachi Zebras featured some players who are not fit and suitable for this format of the game at all. As a result, the team finished fifth on the group table among seven teams with only four points to their credit. To support my point, I mention the names of a few players who could easily be replaced by younger and more talented players in the Karachi Dolphins outfit. Ehsan Ali for Faisal Iqbal, Akber Rehman for Shahrayar Ghani, Hafiz Asad Baig for Saeed Bin Nasir , Mohammad Hassan for Javed Mansoor, Yasir Hussain for Misbah Khan, Mohammad Bilal for Haris Ayaz and Mir Hamza for Adeel Malik.

The Dolphins also fared poorly due to some ordinary decision-making in terms of selection of the final playing-XI, poor bowling changes, senseless batting order and unimaginative field placing. It is also learnt that there was no role of the coach or the manager in the team and the entire burden was borne by the captain.

It is a fact that nobody knows everything about everything. It is teamwork that pays off as each player and official plays his role to make the team succeed. But sadly, no such coordination was seen on and off the field.

The fact of the matter is that instead of Siraj Bukhari, there should be a young, energetic, flexible and competent person to run the show at KCCA. The position of the KCCA president as well as that of its secretary is very weak. In fact, Zone-II, IV and V are not supporting the KCCA president at all and give him a tough time. Besides, the KCCA president has abjectly failed in sorting out major issues with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) including that of representation of Karachi region in the Governing Board, shifting of T20 Cricket Tournament from Karachi to Lahore, Karachi U-19 team issues, violation of PCB’s own rules in domestic cricket, etc.

At the moment, the KCCA-PCB relation are at its worst stage which is hurting Karachi cricket beyond words.

Here, I must cite the example of Shakil Sheikh, the president of Islamabad region, whose dealing with the PCB is correct and forceful.

I know many Test cricketers hailing from Karachi who sincerely want to serve the KCCA but cannot enter the set-up owing to certain cricket mafia that governs the game through dummy club votes.

Fine cricket minds such as former captains Moin Khan, Rashid Latif, spinner Iqbal Qasim, Ejaz Fakih, Abdul Raqeeb, Shahid Israr, Moin-ul-Ateeq and myself are waiting to serve this rich cricketing region with their life and blood but are not allowed to do so.

I, therefore, request the honorable governor of Sindh to look into this matter for the sake of Pakistan cricket and save Karachi and its cricket from destruction because this being the largest cricket nursery in the country has the potential to produce hundreds of match-winning players in a matter of few years.

The writer is a former Test cricketer and Level-III coach