How to become a professional cricketer (Pakistan edition)

It's difficult to become a professional cricketer in Pakistan.

With such a deep love for the game, everyone in the country seems to want to play at the highest level.

Competition is hot.

So how do you go about making it as a professional if you live in Pakistan?

The structure of cricket in Pakistan:

To make it as a professional, you need to play First-class cricket.

Most professional teams in Pakistan represent Pakistan companies (such as Habib Bank and Pakistan International Airlines) are known as 'departmental teams'. They play in a first class competition called Patrons Trophy. These are split into two grades.

There are also several regional professional sides taking part in the Quaid-E-Azam Trophy, this is also split into two grades.

The teams play between September and April every year.

In order to gain selection for one of these sides you will need to show potential at a lower level. Mostly this is at regional and national Under 19, although older players can break through.

As school and University cricket is on the decline in the country, this means scoring runs or taking wickets in club cricket is the key for a youngster to get selected in regional side.

Club games are played with passion. The 'season' lasts 12 month a year, with teams playing several limited over matches a week. It's common to net every day.

Clubs are run by volunteers, often former players, who put in huge amounts of effort, time and sometimes money to keep the sides going with no financial support from the PCB. These men are the unsung heroes of Pakistan cricket, unearthing and nurturing talent through to the highest level on nothing but love for the game.

However, despite these heroic efforts, club cricket is not formally structured to lead in into the top level like it is in Australia. This means getting the attention you need to make it is difficult. Talent is often overlooked because players perform in local competitions but their success is not noticed outside the local club matches.

To avoid this, talented players need to make sure they are playing for the right clubs with the best connections to departmental or regional sides. One such club is Ludhiana Gymkhana in Lahore, who has a history of producing International players like Wasim Akram, Atta ur Rehman and Ijaz Ahmed.

Another club; Sheikhupura Gymkhana has produced players like Mohammad Asif, Rana Naveed, and Aqib Javed. In Karachi club like Malir Gymkhana has produced players like Rashid Latif and Younus Khan.

As there is little in the way of formal coaching, you may also want to consider the online coaching options at PitchVision Academy, giving you access to top level coaches and a better chance of making it.

An alternative to this method is to enrol in a private cricket academy such as Pakistan Custom’s Cricket Academy in Karachi. There are very few of these and are expensive to attend. However, the standard is high so if you can afford it, this is an excellent route to the top.

Players who are spotted at club level can move on to professional cricket.

Becoming an overseas professional:

In England there are more professional opportunities, so many Pakistani cricketers want to come to the country during the English summer (May-September).

Getting a work permit is very difficult and at the very least you will need to have played five First-class matches in the recent past (18 months). If you do qualify there are many non-professional clubs in England looking for good overseas players. To find out who these clubs are and what they are offering, contact an agency. We recommend CricX.

Of course, you can't make it without a certain amount of talent and a lot of dedication to improving. Something you can read more about in the last section of this article.

Finally, you need a thick skin to deal with setbacks.

However, with the right attitude, enough practice, a slice of luck and a subscription to PitchVision Academy's newsletter you have a shot.

Good luck.

This article was only possible thanks to the expertise of former First-class leg spinner Mohammed Haroon, who provided the insights into becoming a professional cricketer from Pakistan.

Source: www.pitchvision.com

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Our Angels and Our Society

Just before I was about to leave the gas station, I had to put my foot on the brakes of my car. Next to my car was standing a little boy, age would be 12 years maximum. He was holding a drum which is usually used to keep edibles hot or cold. Before I would have had said anything to him, he came to me, knocked my window, I moved it down.

Do you want to buy a warm boiled egg? I kept staring at him, he was trying to convince me it`s very cheap and weather is cold, maybe you need it. The way he said this, had unexplainable effect on me. I felt like I was breaking from deep inside, a voice of breaking glass from thousand miles away. I had in my eyes the picture of my younger brother, who is his age. In a nano- second, I had an unintentional comparison between this child and my brother.

I still remember, that it was night time, around 10`o clock. I asked him how many eggs do you have to sell? He proudly told me that he has sold 20 and now has 5 left. I bought some of them and advised him not to beg for anything in his life, just hard work and you will get everything you want. I encouraged him and his eyes were sparkling. I will never forget those eyes.

Some days ago, a similar thing happened to me again on a signal, where a little boy of 10 or 12 years of age came and requested to clean my windshield. I allowed him, he cleaned it but I didn`t have change, I promised him  that I would pay for his services and took my car to service lane, but he said, don`t bother, its fine and smiled.

The reason I am telling you this is not my personal projection; rather, there are some strong messages in these incidents. Let me put these in front of my readers.

How would you compare the behavior of these children with whom ruling our country? These little children work hard, sell stuff which costs us like next to nothing. They face hard weathers, unknown fears, fight with society and earn little just to feed their family and themselves. On the other hand, our ruling class travels in the convoy of 98 official cars, all fueled with our tax money. Unlike these hardworking children, they earn much with bribe, commissions and kickbacks. These children feed their families but our rulers make families die from taxes, inflation and worse law and order situation. BUT these little angels have a self respect, which our rulers don`t have, they earn while our rulers beg. They live legitimate but rulers make marry on our taxes. I don`t know how much respect we have for self respect but little children have self respect which our rulers lack.

Next thing, who is responsible for such a situation? If you ask me, I would always say, it`s us, who are responsible for the situation, we always elect incapable persons as leaders, we elect them so that we can use them in our personal affairs, like getting jobs, transfer postings etc. we never thought that by doing this, how are we contributing in slaughtering our own future with our own hands. Yes, such elected representatives do help us but in individual way, they never thought about a nation, which comprises of all parts of our society, including these small children. Our destruction consists of a simple cycle, we elect incapable people and they destroy us, we cry and cry and become victims, but at the end of the day, prioritize our personal interest over national interest and re-elect the same. I`ll not talk about remedies, we know each and everything, I am just elaborating our general behavior.

Last but not least, how should we take care of this delicate but neglected part of society. These children have lost their childhood, when our children play with toys, they walk on roads to find customers, when our children think of some outing and picnic, they think of the big problems which they try to solve with their innocent little minds and weak body and small hands. When our children don`t have any medical or security issues, we mobilize all public and private resources, but when these angels face these, they have no state assurance standing by them. We are together by our social status while they are alone. Our children go to schools and they stand out of schools selling pens and pencils. But still we don`t know whom we should call  double faced.

We spend much money on useless things, but why don`t we have a generous heart to buy a pen or an egg from these angels. Please don`t make them watch dreams of living like our standards, because there is no one to fulfill their dreams, neither our state nor us. They cannot be us, because we would never allow them to be. Just help them to live and eat. Please buy their stuff, but do not give them money in shape of charity, otherwise it will take away from them a last worthy and precious thing, self respect.

Photo Credit: WikiMedia Commons

Syed Talal Hassan Bukhari
talal.hassan5@gmail.com

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