In the aftermath of the crushing defeat to India, former skipper Aamir Sohail has launched a scathing attack on one of Pakistan's greatest cricketers, Imran Khan, saying the World Cup-winning captain is responsible for the current state of sport in the country.
"I want to say clearly here and for once we must face the truth that Imran is responsible for the state of affairs in our cricket," Sohail said.
With his statement that is clearly a fallout of Pakistan's disastrous campaign in the Champions Trophy in England, where they lost all their three group matches, Sohail left the other two guest on the show -- Zaheer Abbas and Younis Khan -- surprised.
"Imran damaged Pakistan cricket by encouraging our bowlers to tamper with the ball. This has led to a culture where we can't produce good new ball bowlers or quality openers," the 46-year-old former opener told a news channel.
Sohail was retorting to the views expressed by former pacer Shoaib Akhtar, who felt Pakistan "need a dressing room culture where a winning mentality is promoted" and someone like Imran to guide and produce quality players.
The storm was already brewing and yesterday's eight-wicket defeat to arch-rivals India only added to the wounds.
A proven player with 47 Tests and 156 ODIs under his belt, Sohail has worked as a chief selector in the past and was a member of the 1992 World Cup winning squad led by Imran.
Many other former players including Akhtar and Zaheer made it clear that it was time for Kamran Akmal, Imran Farhat, and Shoaib Malik to get the axe.
"Changes have to be made and new players must be brought in and given time to settle down. We have tried the same set of players time and again and they have not delivered in big tournaments," Akhtar said.
However, Younis, who was dropped for the Champions Trophy, felt changing and chopping or pressing the panic button will not solve problems.
On the sidelines, former captain Zaheer Abbas has lamented the shortage of quality batsmen in Pakistan and said the absence of role models has led to the side's woes in batting department.
"The way I see it our poor batting performances in recent years can be put down to the fact that we are not producing role models for the new players," Zaheer said.
"Tell me today who is the role model for young batsman in the team. In the past we had a line of top batsmen from generation to generation. When I came in I looked up to Hanif Muhammad and others when younger players came in they looked up to us," he said.
He pointed out that for years Pakistan had produced quality pace bowlers because new players had idols to follow.
"We need to think about how to revamp the system to produce quality players. I don't think any coaching will help until we get players of the highest caliber."
Zaheer referred to neighbouring India as the perfect example of how young players followed in the footsteps of quality role models.
"Today India has a wealth of quality batsmen why because they have maintained a culture of producing top line batsmen.
Today players like Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or Suresh Raina know if they don't live up to the standards set by their predecessors they will not survive for long in the team," he said.
"India produced quality batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Laxman and Sourav Ganguly and they all went at the right time leaving behind a legacy for new players to follow.
"Unfortunately in Pakistan cricket after Inzamam or Yousuf we have just not produced enough quality batsmen. Younis is the last in line and he is out of the team," Zaheer said.
Former captain, Aamir Sohail called for changes in the domestic structure and for regional cricket associations to be given more responsibility.
"You will only find quality new players from these regions. In the past the regions produced players and departments groomed them. They were big names in these departments. But over the years standards have declined," Sohail said.
"I want to say clearly here and for once we must face the truth that Imran is responsible for the state of affairs in our cricket," Sohail said.
With his statement that is clearly a fallout of Pakistan's disastrous campaign in the Champions Trophy in England, where they lost all their three group matches, Sohail left the other two guest on the show -- Zaheer Abbas and Younis Khan -- surprised.
"Imran damaged Pakistan cricket by encouraging our bowlers to tamper with the ball. This has led to a culture where we can't produce good new ball bowlers or quality openers," the 46-year-old former opener told a news channel.
Sohail was retorting to the views expressed by former pacer Shoaib Akhtar, who felt Pakistan "need a dressing room culture where a winning mentality is promoted" and someone like Imran to guide and produce quality players.
The storm was already brewing and yesterday's eight-wicket defeat to arch-rivals India only added to the wounds.
A proven player with 47 Tests and 156 ODIs under his belt, Sohail has worked as a chief selector in the past and was a member of the 1992 World Cup winning squad led by Imran.
Many other former players including Akhtar and Zaheer made it clear that it was time for Kamran Akmal, Imran Farhat, and Shoaib Malik to get the axe.
"Changes have to be made and new players must be brought in and given time to settle down. We have tried the same set of players time and again and they have not delivered in big tournaments," Akhtar said.
However, Younis, who was dropped for the Champions Trophy, felt changing and chopping or pressing the panic button will not solve problems.
On the sidelines, former captain Zaheer Abbas has lamented the shortage of quality batsmen in Pakistan and said the absence of role models has led to the side's woes in batting department.
"The way I see it our poor batting performances in recent years can be put down to the fact that we are not producing role models for the new players," Zaheer said.
"Tell me today who is the role model for young batsman in the team. In the past we had a line of top batsmen from generation to generation. When I came in I looked up to Hanif Muhammad and others when younger players came in they looked up to us," he said.
He pointed out that for years Pakistan had produced quality pace bowlers because new players had idols to follow.
"We need to think about how to revamp the system to produce quality players. I don't think any coaching will help until we get players of the highest caliber."
Zaheer referred to neighbouring India as the perfect example of how young players followed in the footsteps of quality role models.
"Today India has a wealth of quality batsmen why because they have maintained a culture of producing top line batsmen.
Today players like Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or Suresh Raina know if they don't live up to the standards set by their predecessors they will not survive for long in the team," he said.
"India produced quality batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Laxman and Sourav Ganguly and they all went at the right time leaving behind a legacy for new players to follow.
"Unfortunately in Pakistan cricket after Inzamam or Yousuf we have just not produced enough quality batsmen. Younis is the last in line and he is out of the team," Zaheer said.
Former captain, Aamir Sohail called for changes in the domestic structure and for regional cricket associations to be given more responsibility.
"You will only find quality new players from these regions. In the past the regions produced players and departments groomed them. They were big names in these departments. But over the years standards have declined," Sohail said.
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