You must pick the best!

Pakistan have time on their hands to do a lot of soul searching over their World Cup 2007 debacle.

With emotions still running high over the shock exit and the death of coach Bob Woolmer, Pakistan must not succumb to hasty decisions which may prove detrimental in the long run. They still have six months before their next commitment.
A calm, measured and logical evaluation must be done to find out what went wrong and what would be the long-term solution for the team.
The flak will start flying shortly and the blame game will reach new proportions. The Pakistan cricket authorities must not pay heed to that and must be focused on the mission ahead.
Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq has already hit out at the media and former players for not supporting the team. He claimed that the Pakistan team was under tremendous pressure and the fear of failure and its repercussions from the media always haunted them.
That is nothing new in the Sub-continent or elsewhere in the world where cricket is played. The solution has always been simple for the players - don’t read the morning papers if you haven’t done well.
That aside, the question of failure has to be directly linked to the performances of the players. The bottom line is Pakistan did not play well and deserved their fate.
All the talk about the pitch being unsuitable will not wash. Ireland played on the same pitch and won.
Pakistan’s age-old problem has been lack of consistency. They can on any given day, be the best team in the world and totally inept on the next.
There are many issues which cause this state of affairs. Foremost is the lack of a proper domestic competition. However, the Pakistan cricket board has failed to address this problem from time immemorial despite appeals from former cricket players.
The personality of Pakistani cricketers is another major factor. It has often been alleged that there is a lot of factionalism within the Pakistan team and many players are known to be selfish and greedy.
Pakistan has also been dogged with poor selection policies. Captaining Pakistan was often compared to Russian roulette in the 1950s and 1960s. Captains were changed at the drop of a hat and sometimes there were different captains for different matches in the same series.
The contribution of Imran Khan in bringing about some sort of sanity to Pakistan cricket is immeasurable. Imran, a world class cricketer in his own right, commanded great respect from the players and administrators alike.
The country played its best cricket under Imran and even went on to win the World in 1992. Imran did what no other captain could do. He united a bunch of talented cricketers and helped them to realise their immense potential.
The burly Inzamam was one of Imran’s best hunches. The selectors were not to keen on choosing Inzamam for the 1992 World Cup but Imran insisted that the young lad be picked. Inzamam went on to play a crucial role in Pakistan’s World Cup victory.
Imran raised Pakistan’s game to another level and helped it gain a reputation. Though those halcyon days have not returned, Pakistan built a reputation as a solid team.
Woolmer played a very critical role in bonding the Pakistan team. After he took over as coach, Pakistan had a good run and Inzamam was hailed as fine leader.
That was partly true and more often than not, Inzamam’s batting flowered after getting the captaincy and he played splendidly on many occasions. He may not have been the most astute of captains but his ‘father figure’ image helped him to earn respect of the players.
His stand against umpire Darrell Hair made him a hero in Pakistan though he was frowned upon by the more conservative members of the cricket fraternity.
Now Inzamam has been called an authoritarian who dictated terms and did not listen to Woolmer. Such comments can be expected now that Pakistan cricket has been shamed.
The road ahead is not easy for Pakistan. Finding a new leader may be difficult. Younis Khan seems to be a first choice but he has his doubters.
The team also needs a pair of openers who can deliver consistently. The constant chopping and changing has not helped. The long discarded Imran  Nazir has the potential to be one of them.
Young Yasir Hameed deserves a longer run as he has the qualities of a top quality player.
Pakistan must also not shy away from using Shahid Afridi because he useful bowling gives an extra dimension along with his hard-hitting batting.
The key to the future also lies in the fitness of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Asif.  These two bowlers are proven world class performers and their injury during before the World Cup was a great handicap for Pakistan.
The selectors must also realise that making wholesale changes to the side will not be the answer. The best must play always.