Photo Credit: Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0, Instagram Photo of @safridiofficial
The glory days of Pakistan cricket, when the national team was a dominant force, seem like a distant past. In the 1980s and 1990s, legends like Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Anwar, Javed Miandad, and Saqlain Mushtaq left a lasting impact, especially against their arch-rivals, India. However, in recent years, the national team’s performances have been a far cry from those halcyon days, marked by a series of early exits and a lack of consistency.
In the past few years, the Pakistan cricket team has struggled to maintain its competitiveness on the global stage. Early eliminations in the 2023 ODI World Cup, the 2024 T20 World Cup, and the 2025 Champions Trophy highlight the downward spiral. A defeat at home to Bangladesh in a Test series further deepened the concerns. While a home victory against England in a Test series briefly lit a spark of optimism, even that was overshadowed by controversy when the pitch conditions were altered at the last minute—an action that raised more questions than it provided answers.
The inconsistency in the team’s performance points to deeper structural issues, particularly within the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Over the past three to four years, the board has seen a revolving door of leadership. Figures like Ramiz Raja, Najam Sethi, Zaka Ashraf, and Mohsin Naqvi have all held the position of PCB chairman, but stability has remained elusive. This frequent leadership turnover has added to the instability surrounding Pakistan cricket.
One individual who has commented extensively on this is former PCB chairman Ehsan Mani. Speaking in an interview with Hindustan Times, Mani emphasized that while Pakistan cricket is not short of talent, the real issue lies in organizing and restructuring the cricket ecosystem. He believes that Pakistan’s cricketing infrastructure needs a complete overhaul to ensure quality at all levels. “Look, there’s no shortage of talent in Pakistan. It’s a matter of just going back and rethinking how to take Pakistan or cricket forward. I had started the process by introducing a new format for first-class cricket, and in fact, for all forms of cricket in Pakistan, based on provincial teams,” Mani explained. He further pointed out, “What we are having in Pakistan is a lot of cricket but very little quality cricket.”
Mani’s thoughts reflect a broader issue in Pakistan cricket: the lack of consistency in leadership, not just on the field but also off it. The national team’s captaincy, for instance, has undergone frequent changes, with Babar Azam taking over, then Shaheen Shah Afridi stepping in briefly, before Babar returned. This ongoing back-and-forth in leadership was most apparent during the 2023 ODI World Cup and the T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean. Alongside the captaincy issues, the team has faced turmoil in coaching staff as well, with Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie both stepping down from their respective roles. Gillespie, in particular, has voiced his frustrations, openly questioning the appointment of Aaqib Javed as coach.
Mani has consistently stated that the lack of clarity and consistency in leadership is detrimental to the team’s performance. “Obviously, the policy must come from the top. And the same with the support for the team itself, from coaches and managers and so on. There must be consistency in that, and there must be clarity of the way forward for the team as a whole,” he remarked. He also emphasized the need for a unified direction, stating, “Hopefully, the current chairman has been there for a while, and he will start coming up with his thoughts and ideas. But there should be a consensus on how to take Pakistan cricket forward.”
Mani’s call for a collective approach contrasts sharply with former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi’s recent comments about the PCB’s current leadership. Afridi revealed that Mohsin Naqvi, the current PCB chairman, admitted to him that he lacks knowledge about cricket. Afridi went on to declare that Pakistan cricket is in a “critical” state, likening it to a patient in the ICU. He stressed that accountability is long overdue. However, Mani brushed aside these criticisms, maintaining that leadership must come from the top, and once strong leadership is in place, the rest of the issues will resolve themselves. “I do not give any credibility to what Shahid Afridi or anyone else says. They have their personal agendas or whatever,” Mani stated bluntly.
Mani’s leadership-focused perspective also extends to the ICC’s handling of major tournaments. Pakistan hosted the 2025 ICC Men’s Champions Trophy under a hybrid model, with India’s matches shifted to Dubai due to political tensions. The schedule was only revealed two months prior to the event, leaving Mani deeply unimpressed with the ICC’s management. “It’s very disappointing the way it was managed. The responsibility for this is with the ICC,” said Mani, who had previously served as the ICC president from 2003 to 2006. He criticized the ICC for not dealing with logistical issues earlier and placing responsibility on the respective cricket boards, instead of coming up with a unified solution.
The narrative surrounding India’s dominance in Dubai during the Champions Trophy has also been a point of contention. Some critics argued that India benefitted from playing all their matches in familiar conditions, but Mani dismissed this as an irrelevant argument. “The pitch was the same for all the teams playing there. Yes, BCCI played in one ground for all these matches, but that was something that the ICC had decided right from the outset they would do that,” he explained.
Moreover, with regards to future tournaments, the ICC’s decision to stage India-Pakistan matches at neutral venues within the 2024-2027 rights cycle has shifted Pakistan’s T20 World Cup 2026 matches to Sri Lanka, as opposed to India. Mani, however, pointed out that this decision wasn’t solely the ICC’s but was primarily driven by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
He shared his frustration over the BCCI’s failure to uphold prior agreements made when he was chairman of the PCB, including promises to ensure visas for Pakistani journalists, fans, and officials. “These didn’t materialise. So, really, it’s for BCCI to decide. Today, you have Mr. Jay Shah, who is chairman of ICC. He’s been very involved with Indian cricket. It’s his responsibility to make sure that this sort of thing doesn’t happen again,” said Mani.
As Pakistan continues to struggle with inconsistency on the field, the debate over its cricketing leadership—both within the PCB and internationally—remains central to discussions about its future. The challenge lies in restoring the strong leadership and structural overhaul needed to bring Pakistan cricket back to its former glory.
Name of Author: Cricexec Staff
