(AP Photo)
Former Pakistan cricket captain Rashid Latif recently analyzed the contrasting trajectories of Pakistan and India in cricket. He pointed out that while India celebrated a significant victory in the T20 World Cup 2024, Pakistan has been grappling with issues like inconsistency in major tournaments and reports of discord within the team. India’s success, led by captain Rohit Sharma, was attributed to years of dedicated effort by the team, marking the end of their dry spell in ICC titles.
In contrast, Pakistan, since their triumph in the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, has struggled to maintain a cohesive team structure. The disappointing performance in the T20 World Cup 2024 has prompted the cricket board to initiate a rebuilding phase.
Latif underscored the pivotal role played by leagues like the IPL in India, which have fostered a data-driven approach and expanded the talent pool significantly. Conversely, Pakistan’s PSL has yet to achieve similar strides in development and organization.
“It’s not that India became a reckoning force in world cricket recently, after the World Cup. Go back to 2007, 2011, 2015. They have gained so much knowledge from the foreign coaches and at the same time, they are working at the grassroots level without being noticed,” Latif said.
“And then IPL came into play. And now, they have all the best minds with them. They have Ponting with DC, Hussey, and Bravo. But hum kya kar rahe hain,” he added.
The ex-cricketer emphasized India’s remarkable success in turning the IPL into a global brand, contrasting it sharply with the PSL’s inability to achieve similar widespread acclaim and recognition.
India, just like their film industry, developed a cricket industry. We treat cricket as a hobby that’s why we couldn’t turn it into a business. PSL is still there from where it had started. The highest salary cap is $1.40 lakh. Why can’t they push it further? Why can’t we have players like Mitchell Starc or Oat Cummins? Because we don’t have the money so there’s in no business,” Latif said.
“People who conceptualized PSL were thrown out within a year. They had a vision to expand it but it never happened. Humse zyada players Bangladesh mein khel rahe hain (BPL has more foreign players than PSL). Moeen Ali is there, and so is David Miller, just because they have the money. We couldn’t progress,” he added.
