ISLAMABAD – Pakistan cricket board chairman Najam Sethi known for his spot-on analysis regarding the political corridors has also tried his hand at solving the puzzle of Pakistani cricket team before 1992 world cup but his miscalculated analysis gives a clue of his cricketing intelligence.
An article of Najam Sethi that harks back to March 1992, the days when Pakistani team was up for biggest cricketing challenge World Cup, suggested some crucial changes for the Pakistani team, which if put into action could help Pakistani team sail through the tournament.
According to Najam, Pakistani cricket team led by Imran Khan should have done some manipulations in a bid to secure victory. The Pakistani team did not lend an ear to Sethi’s pearls of wisdom and successfully bagged World Cup.
Najam Sethi suggested that Saleem Malik and star bowler Wasim Akram should have been appointed as captain and vice-captain respectively if both Javed Miandad and Imran Khan were ageing and were unfit warriors. He went on and proposed both the cricketing luminaries to train Malik and Akram.
Not only that, Najam quoted examples of Kapil Dev and Vengsarkar playing under an apparently junior captain and proposed that Imran Khan should do the same.
The media celebrity termed Imran Khan’s decision to take part in any match provided he can bowl ‘ridiculous’ adding that Imran enjoys honour in the team as a batsman, not as bowler.
It may be mentioned that Imran Khan took a wicket in th World cup final and bowled six overs at an economy rate of 6.78 per over.
The then political analyst and current PCB chairman shared his wisdom and slammed Imran Khan’s fierce motivation to win the world cup in a bid to fulfil his dream of building a cancer hospital. Sethi remarked that the personal motivation of flamboyant Khan was negatively affecting the morale of team.
To the dismay of Najam Sethi and pleasant surprise of Pakistani cricket fans, Pakistani cricket team was crowned champions regardless of Sethi’s analysis.
