Pakistani all-rounder Shadab Khan has said that Pakistan cricket has fallen behind in the way the game is played around the world today, and that the team must first accept this before it can catch up.
Speaking in a recent interview, Shadab addressed why Pakistan have not won an ICC event since the 2017 Champions Trophy.
“I think everyone has their own individual factors, but I feel we are quite far behind the way modern day cricket is being played, and we still haven’t caught up to it,” he said. “I think we first need to accept that, and only then can we try to adapt to it.”
He said that Pakistan cricket has started moving in the right direction over the past year, even though the results have not shown it yet.
“Over the last year or year and a half, I think there is now an acceptance that we are lagging behind in modern day cricket, and efforts are being made to fix that,” he said, comparing the gap to a long staircase. “You have to climb the stairs slowly. If you try to jump, you will make more mistakes.”
Shadab also said constant changes in coaches and captains make it harder for players to settle, and stressed that Pakistan must strengthen domestic cricket as the base of the system.
On the pressure surrounding matches against India, he said that the intensity often shapes decisions more than it should. “Sometimes it feels like if you win the India match, you’ve won the World Cup, and if you lose it, you’ve lost the World Cup,” he said. “It’s just another match like any other.”
He praised Pakistan’s new central contract system, calling it the clearest structure he has seen for defining player roles, and he backed Babar Azam’s return as Test captain. “I think this will be a good change for Pakistan. Best wishes to him and the whole team that they win in the West Indies,” he remarked.
Looking ahead to the Test series, Shadab, who made his own Test debut in the West Indies in 2017, backed Pakistan to dominate. “I think our team is much stronger than theirs, and these conditions suit us even more,” he observed.
Shadab is currently playing for Desert Vipers in the Global Super League in Guyana, running from July 23 to August 1, and will next feature in the ILT20 and the Caribbean Premier League, where he is contracted to the Antigua franchise, following stints this year with Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League and Lanka Premier League.
Pakistan’s two-match Test series against West Indies begins on July 25 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, followed by a three-Test tour of England in August.
