Specialists are key to success: Salman

Pakistan’s batsmen must play regular four-day cricket to overcome their technical deficiencies at the Test level, former skipper Salman Butt said in an interview.

Australia crushed Pakistan’s inexperienced batting line-up in the two-match Test series last month as the visitors struggled on bouncy pitches Down Under.

Butt, who played 33 Tests and 78 One-Day Internationals, yesterday said: “The players (representing the national team) should play first-class cricket regularly. And the ones doing well in first-class cricket  should be given chances to perform (at the international level).”

The former Pakistan Test skipper added: “You can’t start building your team with players doing well in T20 or One-Day International cricket. Nowhere around the world does this happen. You need to have format specialists. You have to go for in-form people.”

Q&A with Salman Butt:

Question: Will you tell us why Pakistan is struggling to produce quality Test batsmen?

Answer: I haven’t seen much of the Test (against) Sri Lanka but obviously Pakistan’s batsmen should have a habit of playing long and true. The players (representing the national team) should play first-class cricket regularly. And the ones doing well in first-class cricket  should be given chances to perform (at the international level). You can’t start building your team with players doing well in T20 or One-Day International cricket. Nowhere around the world does that happen. You need to have format specialists. You have to go for in-form people. And unless you do so, then things won’t improve. Lately this is what has been happening. We all want quick fixes and good results but it won’t happen like that. The players who are doing well in domestic cricket should be backed and if you don’t utilise their performances, then you are asking too much of the players who are not that experienced.

Question: Former player Aqib Javed recently said Pakistan should give debuts to players on home soil. Do you think that would help?

Answer: All countries do that. Unfortunately we got international cricket back just now. I suppose we will see that happen now because we got cricket back in Pakistan. Having said that, when we played cricket in the UAE, batting over there was easy but it was tough for the bowlers, especially the fast bowlers. Since we got cricket back, there will be improvement. You will see side matches also for visiting teams and that would help PCB to give more exposure to local players. You will see the benefits of hosting games on our soil.

Question: Where do you see yourself in the next two, three or even six months?

Answer: It all depends on various factors. I am playing domestic cricket for the last three years. I have done well. I have been in top three (among batsmen) and it is the same this year. I have scored 800 plus runs with a match less against the ones leading the batting charts. It is up to the selectors if they want to pick me. I have scored plenty of runs. I am fit. It all depends on what the captain, chief selector and the coach want to do. Apart from the captain (Azhar Ali), the rest is one person (Misbah Ul Haq who is the coach and selector) so it all depends what he thinks (smiles).

Question: The gap between India and the rest of the international cricket teams is huge. How has India come thus far?

Answer: Firstly Indian cricket has no financial issues. They have grown so big financially that everything has been taken care of. They have invested their money back into the game. They treat all format players equally. You don’t see a top IPL star or a T20 player taking a lead in anything. Cheteshwar Pujara is as big a star as others are and they have given him the A grade contract. The BCCI appreciates people for their genuine skills. If you start laying emphasis on a particular format, then youngsters will start paying attention to that (format). So what India are doing is giving value to Test cricket. They are giving value to first-class cricket. Their players are well looked after. So the difference among players from England, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand is that players in Indian domestic cricket are looked after really well. Any Australian player in domestic cricket earns around A$300,000 to 400,000 a year. Whereas Pakistan players, there’s a huge gap (on earning capacity of a player). Unless it (the payments) are brought close to the international standards, you can’t ask young players to beat the world’s best players. You don’t want to have people thinking of cricket in the morning and going in the evening for a part-time job to look after themselves. That will make them part-time cricketers. You don’t become world number one as a part-time cricketer. You have to be a full-time cricketer.

Question: In the 80s, Sunil Gavaskar said Mohammad Azharuddin was ‘God’s gift to Indian cricket’. Do you think Babar Azam is the same to Pakistan cricket?

Answer: What a fantastic player Babar Azam is. As you said, any talent that we come across is God’s gift. I think we need to appreciate everything that he has done recently. He needs to keep going the way he has been going. I think he will be the number one batsman in the world for long, if he carries on like this. He should not be brought down by pressure, people need to start supporting him. He can’t be the one scoring runs alone and be under pressure always. Not just captaincy, any pressure. If you are the only one scoring in a team sport, then there’s always pressure on you. If the players around him start supporting him in terms of runs and performances, the team would start winning and the pressure on Babar will reduce. Then he will score big freely.

Question: What advice would you give QCA to develop the game in Qatar?

Answer: Any cricket playing nation has to have a very good first-class structure. You can have as many T20 leagues or T20 league but unless you have a signature four-day competition, you can’t go far. Remember four-day competitions can’t be earned, you have to invest into this. That’s the real production house of players. The rest of the platforms are there to show the talent at hand. To have better teams, you have to have better four-day cricket. In terms of help, Pakistan has always been helpful to teams to develop their game. Pakistan have hosted Afghanistan for years and their players have developed a lot in recent years. Their families come and reside in Pakistan. Regionally Pakistan and India have supported crickets teams massively. Pakistan is very close to Qatar at all levels and the players who play for Qatar are mainly are from Pakistan and India.