Loud Thinking

Archive for March, 2018

Players selected for a national team are beyond the ordinary, or should be beyond the ordinary.

If there is no change in the attitude of the players, however; if there is no change in the selection process; if there is no change in the personality and quality of coaches to get the players to listen to them and to try and follow their instructions; and if there is no change in the quality of players coming out of the domestic competitions, the result will be the same – probably even worse.
In the modern day game of cricket the captain, coach and the chief selector are the three main pillars, absolutely responsible for the performance of the team.
Now, we are also seeing the evolution of the fourth pillar i.e., the mentor of the team, generally called as the Team Director.
These four pillars must not select the team before they have chalked out the strategy of the matches to be played with their players.
All planning must have a clear objective and should be obviously based on the playing conditions to be faced by the team.
After the strategy the selection process should be based on the following principles:
– Select horses for courses.
– Be ruthless in team selection with emotions getting no place in the realm of the national prestige.
– Remove any iota of likes/dislikes and strictly adhere to the merit policy, not entertaining any undeserving recommendations, from any level.
– No physically unfit player should be selected at any cost.
– No player should be selected if he is not fitting in the mould of the earlier formulated strategy.
Having explained above the philosophy and criteria for the selection of national team, the following players are recommended to be considered for the Pakistani Squad of T20 series of three matches, to be played against the West Indian in Karachi, during the first week of April, 2018.
1. Sarfraz Ahmad (Captain and Wicket Keeper.)
2. Fakhar Zaman (Established opening batsman.)
3. Sahibzada Farhan (Possesses all the potential and promise of an opening batsman.)
4. Agha Salman (Potentially a world class batsman in the making.)
5. Baber Azam (Has already cemented his position in the team for all the three formats.)
6. Asif Ali (He should have been in the national team just after PSL-2.)
7. Hussain Talat (A good find of the PSL-3.)
8. Faheem Ashraf (This player has all the ingredients to become best all rounder of the world.)
9. Muhammad Nawaz (A classy Spinner and an asset for any team.)
10. Shadab Khan (Undisputedly world class priceless asset for any team. Top gun.)
11. Shaheen Shah Afridi (Fast bowling talent is oozing out of this player.)
12. Irfan Junior (An extremely promising fast bowling prospect for Pakistan.)
13. Hasan Ali (Already a established world class cricketer. However, recently it has been observed that he has started behaving rudely in the field, as if he thinks he was above the game and not ready to accept the decisions of his captain. May be he should be told and rested to teach that no player was indispensable.)
14. Aamir Yaamin (A very deserving all rounder and much better fielder than Rahat Ali who let Pakistan down during the ODI World Cup in Australia. These days no poor fielder has any place in national team.)
15. Usman Khan Shinwari (Muhammad Aamir needs some rest and UKS must be granted an opportunity considering his superb fast bowling abilities).
It is high time that thinking strategically, Shoaib Malik, Ahmad Shahzad, Rahat Ali, Muhammad Hafeez, Umer Akmal and Kamran Akmal need not block, our highly talented world class youngsters, to serve Pakistani cricket at the world arena in the next five to eight years.

Chairman PCB and his selectors must not be afraid to repose trust in the young generation players named above.

PCB or anyone having private tournaments can make their own rules, but these should not be ridiculously lop sided otherwise, the tournament’s ranking is rendered worthless.

In ICC, FIFA and PHF world cups, no unfairness or injustice is done, among the teams and every playing team is accorded equal opportunity to win the title.

In PSL play off stages, the winner of the first group (Islamabad United which played vs Karachi Kings at Dubai) goes straight to play the final match, whereas, the winner of the second group (match to be played in Lahore between Peshawar Zalmi vs Quetta Gladiators) will be required to play extra match, for qualifying as a finalist.

Similarly, the first group’s loser (Karachi Kings)  gets another chance (on 21 March, 2018 in Lahore) for qualifying to play the final match with the team winning the match to be played at Lahore on 20 March 2018, between PZ vs QG and the second group’s loser gets eliminated, without getting another chance like the loser (KK) of the first playoff match played in Dubai.

This is not fairness and justice with the two teams of PZ and QG, who qualified for the playoffs stage.

PCB has devalued its own PSL tournament, by faulty match planning in its play off segment of the PSL-3 by reducing the whole tournament to a farce, as detailed below:

1. In the first playoff of PSL-3 which was played in Dubai the winner (Islamabad United) straight away qualified to play the final match, as is normally done all over cricket tournaments at the semi final stage.

2. However, the loser (Karachi Kings) team was not not eliminated, from the race of playing the finals.

3. In the second playoff match of the PSL-3 scheduled to be played in Lahore on 20 March, 2018 between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi teams, surprisingly, the losing team will be eliminated from the tournament (unlike the first playoff match loser team Karachi Kings) and winning team will also not be the direct entrant to the finals (unlike the first playoff match winner Islamabad United).

4. In English language when something is unfair they say it is not cricket, which reflects the spirit of the glorious game of cricket and is synonymous with fairness.
However, it seems for our PCB cricket bosses it means being unfair, wherever, it was possible.

5. The million dollar question which arises in this scheme of playoff matches is that why for the PCB what is good for goose is NOT good for gander?

6. Why both the second play off teams are being treated unfairly compared with the first playoff teams?

7. In other words, why the privilege given to both the winning and losing teams of the first playoff match played in Dubai, is not being offered to both the teams of the second playoff match, to be played in Lahore, where the losing team will be eliminated from the tournament, and surprisingly, the winning team will also not qualify for the final match, to be played in Karachi. Rather, the winning team of second playoff match, will have to play an extra match with the Karachi Kings, which will get second chance to play the final match despite losing its first playoff match in Dubai?

8. It seems that those at the helm of affairs in PCB, are not serious in building the image, stature and reputation of the PSL, but only wanted to fit in one extra match, notwithstanding the fact that this non serious approach, will badly devalue the Pakistan Super League brand in the international arena.

A note originally written on 19 March, 2017.

Points to ponder..!

1. Should the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) be converted into a full fledged provincial unit (already it has a Hight Court, IG etc.) with MPA’s, CM and a governor?
2. After the current population census should the constituencies be reduced for better public service by bringing MNA to MPA level and MPA’s voters size reduced to half the current size?
3. Should the Senators be elected with direct public votes to avoid the instances of blatant corruption?
4. Since, everyone admits that the current system has 100% failed to deliver specially in the fields of justice, health and education; has the time come for converting all the divisions of the country into small provinces and reverting to presidential form of government?

5. Why not to create a reserved quota of 10 seats in all Provincial/National assemblies and Senate (5 men and 5 ladies) for only Pakistani nationality holder expatriate Pakistanis, where total expatriate voters are estimated to be almost 90 lacs?

 

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Written 3 years ago on 5 March, 2015.

A clarion call to the PM Pakistan..!
Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif,

AoA.

Sir,

Now today when your party has won every possible seat in the senate, it is not the time to rejoice. Rather, you must rise to the occasion with more humility and statesmanship to serve the nation in a unique way by uniting all the political forces and the stake holders, on a plan of charter of development for next hundred years for Pakistan, wherein, every aspect of economic activity affecting the poorest of the poor should be decided with consensus.

In this regard, all the national stake holders should decide now about all future plans (for the next hundred years these plans should be divided in 20 five plans) in the educational, health, infrastructure, science and technology, housing, social services, communications, IT and all other segments of civil and military sectors.

And after a consensus is developed amongst all the stake holders, on the charter of Pakistan for the next hundred years, for example, which dams, roads, ports etc., will be constructed during the next century; no politics should be allowed on this rebuilding of the country and all future governments must be bound (as per a law passed from the parliament) to adhere to this agreed plan in a most sacrosanct manner.

Sir, it must be made clear to all and sundry that during the last almost 68 years, our preferences of self serving politics, over the development of Pakistan (for example not allowing to build certain mega dams and projects) has practically made the nation bankrupt, where a stage has arrived that we have to take the loans to repay the loans; and against about $15 billion foreign exchange reserves, foreign debt stands above $70 billions.

As such, under the circumstances, denial for a consensus is not an option. If at this turning point of our history, the collective national leadership will fail the nation, then the following couplet of Dr. Allama Iqbal should also be remembered by replacing Hindustan with Pakistan:
نہ سمجھو گے تو مٹ جاؤ گے اے ھندوستان والو
تمہاری داستان تک نہ ھوگی داستانوں میں

Best Regards,
Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

5 March, 2015 (Exactly 3 years ago).

PAKISTAN has accumulated expensive loans, a huge trade gap and a big current account deficit, declining remittances and state-owned enterprises are incurring losses of over $ 5 billion per annum. There is massive corruption in society, so much so that the size of the black economy has overtaken the country’s annual budget, money laundering is in excess of $10 billion annually; and a steeply depreciating rupee.

This is a sure recipe for disaster. Thus a radical change is the need of the hour.

Our political parties have shown no resolve to address the issues afflicting the country. It seems they neither have the capacity nor the will to deliver.

Perhaps, the system was never designed to serve the people. In view of the foregoing, it is the most appropriate time for a surgical corrective action.

We need a consensus government of young, qualified and honest people, who are less than 45 years of age at the Centre and the provinces to achieve the following six tasks in short and medium-term period.

1) Reviving the economy of Pakistan.

2) Draft a new social contract for every sector with special focus on the have-nots.

3) Devise a governance plan, which should be free from the blackmailing of the mafias, lobbies and the pressure groups.

4) Further enhance the scope of CPEC projects.

5) Develop mechanism to stop corruption and money laundering.

6) Plan up a robust strategy to bring back the wealth stashed abroad by Pakistanis.

To ensure that the country stays on the right track, every economic activity must be documented while taxes and duties should be reduced to bare minimum not exceeding 10% in any case.

I am in sixties, and have no qualms in admitting that our generation has failed Pakistan. Now it is high time, we must hand over the mantle to those who are qualified, energetic, capable and less than 45 years old.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad
Dawn 24 October 2017

Post Script:

The cardinal rule to build a sustainable economy is to live within the means; for which austerity is the secret of success.

In Pakistan, we can easily control our expenses, if the following statement is adopted as a motto/mission; and implemented as an official policy, and is also displayed in the offices of the civil and military bureaucracy, just below the portrait of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah Sahab:

“Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him.”