Talking to The Nation, Khawaja Nadeem, who is also former President of Lahore Regional Cricket Association (LRCA), said: “At this age, the cricketers are usually busy in learning the basics of the game, how to sharpen and hone their skills and learn how to play longer format cricket. The kids between the ages of 17, 18 or 19 should be allowed to play longer format cricket as much as possible, but unfortunately, current PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja preferring T20 cricket to longer version of the game that will prove devastating for Pakistan cricket in the long run.”
“The latest injustice with the youngsters is that the dates of Junior Premier League have been announced by the PCB. With this announcement, it has become clear that the newcomers are being trained just for the Twenty20 format, where the bowlers will bowl only to avoid runs instead of focusing on fine and quality bowling. This league can be disastrous for Pakistan cricket as limited-over cricket reduces the attractiveness of the game and couldn’t produce the stars and legends of the game,” he added.
“India and those who play good Test cricket or focus on long-term cricket at the junior level still have good batsmen and bowlers, who, if given chance, do wonders at international level. Instead of learning from the downfalls of the West Indies and England cricket, we are trying to copy the cricket structures of other nations without keeping in mind the devastation which Pakistan cricket has to face in the times to come. We can’t expect such disastrous decisions from PCB chief Ramiz Raja,” Kh Nadeem concluded.