Former test captain Imran Khan has pleaded for appointment of national cricket teams' captain now so as to give him an opportunity to work out a strategy for the world cup tournament to be held in England in May next year.
Talking to Dawn on Thursday, Mr Khan thought that frequent changes in captaincy had harmed national cricket and affected the performance of players.
``It is a pity that our team captain was changed for six times in one year. That is why it is necessary that you think many times before you appoint a captain; and once you take a decision, it should not be reviewed. The team leader must also have a proper planning with eye on the world cup matches'', he advised the Pakistan Cricket Board.
During a visit to Dawn office in Lahore where he was invited for a talk on a host of issues, he expressed the view that certain constraints had to be exercised before appointment of a captain. He should be a non-controversial player, be able to enforce discipline and be a man of character so as to lead the team by example.
Once a captain was appointed, the cricketer-turned-politician said, the PCB must organize as many one-day matches as possible to give enough practice to players. This was necessary for the team's preparation for the world cup tournament.
Imran Khan also pleaded with the great cricketers of the recent past like Javed Miandad, Mudassar Nazar etc. to make available their services to the team and its captain in chalking out a plan for the prestigious tournament.
Contending that players in the present national cricket team had no equal the world over, he said ``only this team has the potential to lift the cup if proper planning is done beginning from today''.
He was of the view that the PCB should not have prevented some of young players from playing county cricket in England. ``If I were at the helm of affairs, I would have gladly allowed them to sign contracts with English county cricket teams'', he said and added that this would have given players at least a six-monthpractice on English wickets where the tournament was to be held.
Apart from captaincy, Mr Khan said, the structure of the game was another stumbling block in promotion of cricket in Pakistan. He said the country's cricket structure could not be built because banks and other institutions had involved themselves in the game. As they offered lucrative incentives which were not available in regional cricket, the game had fallen prey to financial temptations. This was the start of gambling and match-fixing which later made inroads into the Test cricket. ``The need for money cannot be denied, yet one must also hold in the highest esteem the national pride and this should be well above any other consideration'', he stated.
The former test captain, who has always advocated for promotion of cricket on regional basis, reiterated his stance by saying that the PCB must go all out for the ``hidden'' talent across the country. He said the country had the best of the talents in the game throughout the world; the only need was to explore it physically and with complete seriousness for which concerted efforts to organize camps in different parts of the country were required.
Urging PCB chief executive Majid Khan to pay more and more attention to promotion of regional cricket,, Mr Khan hoped the PCB chief executive was fully conscious of the problems facing the game and would take all the steps to solve them.