"Pehele aap ek to bana lein thik se" - Kamran Akmal slams lack of depth in Pakistan cricket
Pakistan wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal feels that the changes made to Pakistan's domestic cricket circuit have hurt the depth of their talent pool. He feels the move to stop the participation of departmental teams and regional cricket has drastically affected their bench strength.
Akmal claimed that their arch-rivals India could form two or three teams with the depth that they have. He feels Pakistan are struggling to form even a single proper team because of the lack of options available.
The wicketkeeper-batter reckons that not many players have the exposure and mental toughness to play at the international level.
Speaking to Paktv.tv, Kamran Akmal said:
"(On whether Pakistan too can form 2 teams) Pehele aap ek to bana lein thik se (First at least make one team properly). Before 2018-19, you could have made three teams due to the number of teams that were playing domestic and regional cricket."
Kamran Akmal on problems in Pakistan's domestic cricket
Kamran Akmal claimed that Pakistan have received a number of great players in the past due to their old domestic structure. He believes departmental cricket played a massive role in the talent that was previously available within the national team.
On this, Akmal stated:
"Departmental teams have given Pakistan so many great players, but we stopped that and have just six domestic teams. If this experiment had been correct, then Fawad Alam wouldn't have had to wait 11 years to make a comeback. We are finding it difficult to form one proper team."
He also tried to explain how Pakistan should develop the temperament of the younger generation by referring to India once again. The wicketkeeper-batter believes this should take place starting with age-group cricket so that they will be ready for the international level when required.
On this, he opined:
"I talk about India because if you see the top four players who have scored most hundreds in the past 10-12 years, three of them are from India.
"So they play long cricket and that's what should be our focus too. We will need to mentally prepare our players and make them stronger and this should now happen from age-group cricket."
It will be interesting to see if the PCB under Najam Sethi is able to bring back the success given by departmental cricket in Pakistan.