Ex Pak batter explains why India have surged ahead of Pakistan

Former Pakistan captain and coach Haroon Rasheed says Indias cricket dominance stems from strong grassroots structures and long-term planning, while Pakistan continues to suffer from instability, poor domestic systems and lack of continuity.IMAGE: Babar Azam is bowled by Axar Patel during the T20 World Cup in Colombo earlier this year. Photograph: Lahiru Harshana/Reuters Key PointsFormer Pakistan batter Haroon Rasheed praised India’s age-group and domestic structure for producing immense T20 talent depth.Haroon blamed Pakistan’s decline on instability in administration, captaincy and selection policies.He said frequent changes in PCB leadership have disrupted continuity and long-term planning.Haroon stressed that neglect of domestic and club cricket has hurt Pakistan badly.Former Pakistan Test batter and ex-head coach Haroon Rasheed believes the widening gulf between Indian and Pakistan cricket is rooted not in talent, but in structure, planning and long-term investment at the grassroots level. Drawing a sharp contrast between the two systems, Haroon said India are now reaping the rewards of a robust domestic and age-group pipeline, while Pakistan continue to suffer from inconsistency, administrative instability and neglect of club cricket.Speaking on hamaraiweb.com, Haroon said Indias depth of talent -- especially in T20 cricket -- has become so vast that selectors may soon struggle to settle on their strongest playing XI across formats.In contrast, Haroon lamented the decline of Pakistans domestic structure, saying the lack of continuity in policies, captaincy, coaching and selection has severely hurt the national team. The recent Test defeats to Bangladesh and even before that in white ball cricket our performances tell the whole story of our cricket, he said.Haroon, who worked in the Pakistan Cricket Board in different capacities, including as chief selector, coach of the senior and junior national teams and also headed the cricket academy, said that India right now was reaping the benefits of their investment and consistency.Right now, India has so much talent to pick from, particularly in T20 cricket.

The reason is all their players are coming through a proper system from various age groups.Haroon said one of the main problems affecting Pakistan cricket was the absence of consistency, planning and continuity in major decisions.I dont think changing the board chairman so frequently has helped at all. I worked under at least six different chairmen at my time in the board and when a new chairman comes in, it means he brings in his own people, policies and mindset, Haroon said.PCB never showed confidence in their captainsHe pointed out that most of the PCB chiefs didnt have cricket backgrounds, so they relied heavily on advice from others.In Pakistan there is a dire need to change the domestic structure which has survived competition between association and departmental cricket and come up with a new concept, or we will be left behind. Even Bangladesh has now shown how they have improved.The former Test batter also noted that the board never showed confidence in their captains.When you decide to appoint a captain in any format it would have been done with much thought process so how can you keep on changing captains, how will this allow the Pakistan team to be consistent and stable, he questioned.Haroon also noted that whenever Pakistan had had long serving captains, the results had been better.There are a lot of things that need to be put right in Pakistan cricket. Or else we will fall further behind.

Because we are not even grooming our young talent properly or giving them the right coaching and exposure to prepare them for long term international cricket.