For the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief, his brainchild, the Champions Cup, holds the key to many of Pakistan Cricket’s current problems. Mohsin Naqvi, who assumed the role of the PCB chairman last year, has not shied away from admitting that the country is suffering from a talent deficiency. But it’s not the kind of talent deficiency that tolls bells of damnation for cricket in the country, it’s basically the lack of knowledge of the talent within the domestic circuit. Champions Cup, as per the PCB chair, can help Pakistan overcome this knowledge gap.
“We had a lot of players for which we didn’t have records. This Cup will make domestic cricket strong, we’ll have a pool of 150 players, and then the surgery we need to be done, the selection committee will do. People said ‘do it all today, slit the throats of four-five players, and get rid of them’. You can’t dump someone unless you have a better one to replace them.” Naqvi said in a press conference after Pakistan lost the first Test match against Bangladesh.
More than a tournament, it will be a talent hunt. May be a little fancier than a typical talent hunt. Fancier is the term we use thanks to the news and reports surrounding the event, some of which point towards the fact that the Board is splurging to realize this tourney.
PCB had already stated that they would be getting one mentor for each of the five teams in the Championship. It is understood that the mentors will not be a part of the coaching staff, which is yet to be announced by the cricket governing body. Although we remain clueless apropos to what these select few individuals will do with the teams, Misbah ul Haq, who will mentor the Wolves, did throw some light on what role they might play.
“My thinking is you need to try and maximise a player’s potential. If a player is well-equipped and technically good, he can play all formats. We have to look at how he manages his fitness and potential, and not have any preconceived notions about any player. Then we can look at which player specifically fits into our team. That doesn’t mean we limit a player’s ceiling. As mentors and coaches, we need to explore their potential to the full.”
He further said that the essence of this far-out strategy is to bridge the gap between domestic and International cricket and raise every player involved in the tournament to the international level.
“The vision is to reduce the gap between domestic and international cricket. I feel it and players feel it too. When I came to the international side, it took three to four years to believe that I belonged to international cricket. The vision of the mentors is to prepare the players to raise them to that level, so they adjust with it. This requires a lot of hard work, and it will only happen if we do it.”
Waqar Younis, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shoaib Malik, and Saqlain Mushtaq will be mentoring the remaining four teams. All of the mentors are reported to be hired on a three-year contract. In addition to that the board will pay the mentors a whopping PKR 5 million per month for the role.
