New Delhi: Former Test batsman and former head coach of Pakistan Haroon Rasheed Tuesday drew a stark contrast between India and Pakistan’s cricket structures, saying India is now enjoying the rewards of long-term planning, strong domestic cricket and a robust age system, while Pakistan continues to struggle due to instability and instability.Speaking to hamaraiweb.com, Haroon said that Pakistan’s recent performance reflected deep problems within the country’s cricketing structure. He said that the defeat to Bangladesh in the recent Test and our performance in white ball cricket before that tells the whole story of our cricket.Haroon, who served the Pakistan Cricket Board in various roles including chief selector, coach of the senior and junior teams and head of the cricket academy, said India’s system has created a huge talent pool, especially in T20 cricket.“India has a lot of talent at the moment, especially in T20 cricket. This is because all their players are coming through a proper system from different age groups.”The former Pakistan batsman said that the lack of consistency, continuity and planning has seriously hurt Pakistan cricket over the years.“I don’t think changing the chairman of the board so often has helped. I’ve worked under at least six different chairmen in my time on the board and when a new chairman comes in, that means he brings his own people, policies and mindset,” Haroon said.Haroon also stressed the urgent need to change Pakistan’s internal structure and warned that other nations are moving too fast.“There is a dire need to change the domestic structure in Pakistan which has survived competition between association and departmental cricket and come up with a new concept or we will be left behind. Even Bangladesh have now shown how they have improved.”He also questioned the PCB’s frequent captaincy changes, saying that the constant reshuffle prevented the team from building stability.He questioned that when you decide to appoint a captain in any format, it should be done very thoughtfully, so how can you keep changing captains, how can this make the Pakistan team consistent and stable?Haroon added that Pakistan has historically performed better under captains who were given long runs in the leadership role and warned that the country risked going backwards if young players were not properly groomed.“There are many things that need to be corrected in Pakistan cricket. Otherwise we will fall further behind. Because we are not developing our young talent properly or giving them the right coaching and exposure to prepare them for long-term international cricket.”
