Don't you think, a deliberate effort was made to consider Pakistan's domestic cricketers 'talentless'? The performances of Sajid Khan, Noman Ali, and Kamran Ghulam, during the last two Tests of a three-match series against England, have made this question relevant in so many ways.
From 'Pakistan don't make spin wickets due to lack of quality spinners' to 'Pakistan winning solely with the help of spinners', the core management of Pakistan cricket, for the last couple of years, has been exposed badly after Noman and Sajid shared 39 wickets in last two Tests where Aqib Javed, the new selection committee member, forced PCB's think tank to make spin wicket.
For the past couple of years, we've been listening to the claims like 'Pakistan don't have backup players', 'Pakistan lack talent in domestic cricket', and so on. But, the emphatic series win has challenged the perception of 'talent shortage' in Pakistan.
Even if we stick only to Sajid, Noman, and Kamran for now, we'll find how the fans were shown a completely different picture of domestic talent. Sajid made his First-Class (FC) debut in 2016, and since then, he has been proving himself, claiming 256 wickets in 69 matches so far.
In his debut FC season, Sajid bagged 13 wickets in four matches. Till his Test debut in 2021 against Zimbabwe, Sajid already had decent domestic cricket experience, having played 31 FC matches in which he took 139 wickets. He bagged the highest 67 wickets in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2020-21 season after which the then selector Mohammad Wasim named him in Pakistan's Test squad.
Sajid didn't have a good run in Zimbabwe, his debut series but showed glimpses of his talent straightaway in his next away tour of Bangladesh. He took 16 wickets in two matches there, also including a player-of-the-match award in the second Test for taking 12 wickets.
Despite a decent start to his Test career, Sajid was dropped straightaway after one bad series at home against Australia where pitches were made 'flat roads', having no assistance for the bowlers.
Noman made his FC debut way back in 2007. It took him 15 years to make his Test debut. His peak years were wasted and it shows the loopholes in our system.
Before his Test debut in 2021 against South Africa, Noman had 347 wickets in 100 FC matches. With loads of experience in domestic cricket, Noman had a great start to his Test career, bagging a five-wicket haul in just his second innings.
Before these two Tests against England, Noman already had 47 wickets in 28 innings. He had seven wickets in his last innings before this England series after which he was dropped in 2023.
As far as Kamran is concerned, he has been performing consistently at the domestic level but we were given a different script. Kamran, in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2020-21 season, scored a record-breaking 1249 runs in 11 matches. His highlighting performance earned him a maiden Test call but it took almost three years for him to make his Test debut.
In 2021, he scored 155 runs in three FC matches and 597 runs in eight FC matches in 2022. In 2023, he scored 599 runs in 10 innings of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and 426 runs in four matches of the President's Trophy. Earlier this year, he also scored a hundred against Bangladesh A in Australia.
Who are Sajid, Noman and Kamran? Weren't they proven performers in domestic cricket over the years? Yes, they were. But, a particular group of cricketers, having a blind fanbase and a strong PR game, kept ruling the PCB corridors, leaving the genuine domestic performers hopeless. As a result, during the past few years, several domestic cricket toppers left the country to find better opportunities in the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK.
Muzamil Asif
