Karachi: Former Pakistan wicket-keeper batsman Moin Khan believes Indian skipper Virat Kohli is the only batsman among the current generation who is destined to break many more records and become a legend.
The former Test skipper, who ended his international career in the 2004 home series against India, lamented that the quality of batsmen and bowlers had gone down compared to the 1980’s and 90s era.
“I see Kohli as the only one among the current generation of batsman who is destined to break many records as well as become a legend,” he said on Gsports show on GTV News channel.
However, Khan was disappointed with the quality of cricketers in the current Pakistan team.
“I look at the Pakistan team and we lack match-winners or game changes like we had in the 80s or 90s. When I was in the team they were so many match winners and we all knew someone would do it that day. That was class.”
The former chief selector and Pakistan team manager lamented that Pakistan cricket had fallen behind Indian cricket because of a lack of match winners.
“I credit Mahindra Singh Dhoni for changing the face of Indian cricket. He really turned them around and saw through what Saurav Ganguly had started. That is why India is producing so many quality players and they have strong bench strength,” he said.
Khan also criticized Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq for accepting the dual responsibility.
“In our cricket culture which is different to other nations this experiment is not working. Imagine the state of mind of a player in the dressing room. If he shares something about his game or personal life with the head coach, which players do, he must think twice about it because the head coach is also the chief selector,” he said.
Khan said when he was manager and chief selector of the Pakistan team before the 2015 World Cup, the former Chairman of the board, Najam Sethi had also offered him the post of head coach.
“Sethi sahib said do all three jobs but I said thank you because I knew it would not work in our culture and I think it is too much burden on one person. As a manager you can afford to be the chief selector as you are part of the tour selection committee. But Misbah should have refused and I think he will rue his decision later on,” he said.
He also criticised Misbah’s indecisiveness as head coach and chief selector and said it was hurting Pakistan cricket and was halting development of players.
“Look when I was manager I saw how indecisive Misbah could be so I was surprised when the board offered him two such key positions which both require strong and prompt decision making,” he said.
Khan also lamented the treatment meted out to former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed.
“You can’t imagine that happening anywhere else. It was sad and uncalled for. Not only sacking him as captain in all three formats but also dropping him as a player,” he said. “Sarfaraz walks into this team anytime and they removed him when he was developing into a good and confident leader and becoming more assured and mature. I hope they realize their mistake and bring him back because his performances even as a player were so bad they should have dropped him.”
PTI
