24/02/2025
Same team, but two different chairmen, and a world of difference in performance.
Under the leadership of Ramiz Raja, the same team had played the semi-final twice and the final once. In the ODI rankings for the first time since 1992, it reached the number one position, reached number five in Tests, and ranked between number three and four in T20Is. All these performance figures were proof that the team was moving in the right direction.
Then came Mohsin Naqvi—a man who had no practical connection with cricket, but was made chairman only through political connections. The result? The same team that used to play semi-finals and finals at major events has now been knocked out in the first round of three ICC tournaments, and is on the brink of a fourth today. The Test ranking rose to eighth, fourth in ODIs, and seventh in T20Is.
This decline was not due to any technical weakness or incompetence of the players, but was deliberately created by putting the leadership of cricket in incompetent and inexperienced hands. By crushing merit, prioritizing nepotism, and prioritizing personal interests over the national game, the team was transformed from a semi-final and quarter-finalist to a group-stage loser. This was not just a change of chairman, but the beginning of the downfall of Pakistan cricket.