Life bans are good for Pakistan cricket Print E-mail
Category: Features
Written by Luke Tagg   
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:09
I can't pretend to understand the machinations of the Pakistan Cricket Board on a good day, much less on a day in which two of their finest Test players have been handed life bans, two others one-year bans and everyone else massive fines.

It's by far the biggest purge I've ever witnessed in cricket and the furious posting across multiple platforms all over the world wide web indicates that most everyone feels the same.

It's a right shocker, make no mistake.

It's also the best news I've heard out of Pakistan for a long time and the first important step the PCB has taken to try and reverse their failing fortunes.

To recap, as if you didn't already know:

Pakistan had one of their worst tours ever last month against Australia, losing every game they played in all three formats of the game. Even though I expected Australia to win all series against them, I certainly didn't spot that coming. I thought they were better than that.

The tour was marked by all sorts of power struggles within the team, gross insubordination from certain key players, in-fighting, ball-tampering, captaincy battles, you name it - all of which is pretty par for the course for Pakistan cricket.

Ever since I can remember they have had similar troubles, which has made them the most inconsistent side in world cricket for a very long time now.

Everyone else has ups and downs of form, but Pakistan is the proverbial wild card. You never know what sort of performance they're going to turn in, nor why.

The PCB decided to do something radical about it all, resulting in today's shock news.

Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan have both been banned from all cricket for life, Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan have been banned for a year and Shahid Afridi and the Akmal brothers handed massive fines.

Most of the reasoning is quite murky, but it all comes down to the fact that the PCB is sick to death of the constant bickering and unprofessionalism from their players.

Not that the PCB can be considered a guiding light of wisdom and consistency, but I wholeheartedly agree with their mass culling. I think it's the best thing that could have happened to Pakistan cricket.

By taking out their wrath on the senior players the PCB has laid down a marker for future young stars. The effect would have been minimal if it had been young players in the firing line, but handing out life bans to your two best Test players is as clear a message as any I've ever seen.

The only way the PCB can stop factionalism and popularity contests is to put the fear of God into the players and let them know that their bullshit won't be tolerated. There's no other way to get rid of it.

It's going to hurt Pakistan cricket in the short term - no doubt. This isn't the end of the saga by a long way.

But in the long term it could pave the way for future professionalism, which is ultimately what's at stake here. A professional Pakistan team would be world beaters in any format on a consistent basis.

Sympathies to Pakistan supporters - gotta be tough on you guys. It's for the best though.

Full Story: Rana, Malik get one-year bans, Younis and Yousuf axed from teams
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