Is Champions Cup Really Going to Solve Pakistan Cricket’s Problems?

Pakistan’s latest addition in its ever-changing domestic cricket landscape – The Champions Cup – has garnered a lot of attention over the past few weeks.

The idea of the ‘Champions Cup’ is to enhance the talent pool of Pakistan cricket and provide them with competitive cricket so that the players can improve their skills in highly-competitive and high pressure games.

To add to that, the appointment of five cricket greats as mentors of those sides, looks a solid idea on paper. But in theory, there is some skepticism around the newly announced tournament, especially with regards to some of the regulations of the competition.

Now before we get into the details, it is very important to share the need to hold such competitions. Pakistan cricket team has been in turmoil over the past year or so with horrid performances in all three formats and some tensions off the pitch as well. As we have seen multiple times with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the power-driven chairmen have always looked at the short-term fixes rather than fixing the deep-rooted issues with the sport in the country.

Former PM Imran Khan, decided to change the domestic setup which had a sever impact, not due to the new structure, but due to the much reduced number of teams which had a role to play in decreasing the talent pool. Despite that, the existing talent pool had a platform where there was much more competitive cricket and helped in honing the skills of the players.

After Imran Khan was ousted as the PM, the PCB decided to bring back the old domestic system, which has had an even more adverse effect on the quality of cricket and cricketers produced by Pakistan.

As former Pakistan cricketer Bazid Khan stated in a podcast with ProSports, every chairman comes in with an idea of how he can stamp his authority and make some significant changes so that they can be remembered for their initiatives after they have left, without focusing on what is required to improve the game in the country.

You can check out Bazid’s comments here.

That brings us to the Champions Cup, which looked like a good idea to me from the off, but after the developments over the last few days, I am not too certain anymore. First of all, there was a massive conflict of interest as PCB’s new director of cricketing affairs, Waqar Younis appointed himself as a mentor of one of the sides, before announcing his departure from his new PCB role, just mere weeks into the job.

That right there was a massive red flag for me.

Secondly, the PCB implemented a new rule that players above the age of 35 will not be allowed to take part in the Champions Cup as they want to develop a new pool of talent. Makes sense on paper right? But I would argue that veteran players still have a lot to offer to Pakistan. Certainly not in the national team, but helping the new generation in developing game awareness, handling the pressure and general techniques to make them a better cricketer. Nevertheless, it is not a major point of concern for me.

The real issue arrives when there is conflict of interest coupled with bending the rules for certain players. While three of the five mentors, Misbah-ul-Haq, Saqlain Mushtaq, and Waqar Younis have retired from cricket, two mentors, Shoaib Malik and Sarfaraz Ahmed are still active cricketers. While Malik has announced that he has no intentions to represent Pakistan, Sarfaraz Ahmed is very much in the team, as he was in Pakistan’s squad in the recently concluded Test series against Bangladesh.

Sarfaraz Ahmed, the mentor of Dolphins, will not only be mentoring but also be taking part in the tournament, despite being 37, two years over the age limit for the players. Similarly, it is expected that the 42-year old Shoaib Malik will also take part in the tournament as a player.

Take nothing away from Sarfaraz and Malik, they both are still excellent cricketers, but one rule for some players and other rule for the others does not sit right with me at all. Not only will this hamper the progress of the upcoming cricketers as Malik and Sarfaraz will be playing in their place, but it will also set a bad precedent moving forward, where the ‘star’ players, who are already accused by the fans of having too much power, will demand more such rules to be bent in their favor.

Adding to this, there is a debate about the wages of the mentors, with each mentor earning Rs. 50 lacs per month. All five mentors have been hired for three years, which amounts to Rs. 90 crore in total. Absurd.

With the standard of cricket being played by Pakistan, it is very hard to be optimistic about such competitions elevating the performance of the Men in Green.