“Aap logo ki wajah se cricket…” Iftekhar Ahmed puts a massive blame on Pakistan media for downfall of Cricket

The cricketer Iftikhar Ahmed from Pakistan shares his dissatisfaction with the media providing coverage to the young and forthcoming players, as well as accusing them for hasty conclusions. Iftikhar incurred in a debate on the new talents which he believes emerged from the first ever domestic competition of Pakistan, the Champions Cup One-day Cup.

Iftikhar was talking to the press after his team Markhors lost to the Panthers and he was the captain. He was asked a question about the emerging talent and he lost his cool.

“Media ne kya dekh liya hai kya (ado what has the media seen)?” he first said before concluding, “No, I do not dislike anyone but, for instance, after just one innings, do not make someone so unrealistically famous. It is the same as talking about young children, letting them play two-three domestic seasons first, performing there with success and only then talking about them playing for Pakistan.”

The 34 year old explained that it was unreasonable to project one’s chances of playing international cricket without the player having been exposed to all the three formats profoundly.

“You get success in one innings, then when you fail for Pakistan, you say, 'Where did you get this from, this is not even anywhere! For God's sake, put someone in teen format and then talk about them. (You guys hype someone and then if they don't perform for Pakistan then ask questions why this guy has been selected? For god's sake, let them perform in all three formats first),” Iftikhar said.

Incessantly, the media keeps claiming that ‘Pakistan has another Inzamam (ul-haq). For me, I am only asking that let people value domestic cricket firstly and allow the emerging players to flourish there in all the formats, before discussing the need for them to move to international cricket,’ he elaborated.

He subsequently shifted the focus of discussion onto the media, holding them responsible for the poor state of cricket in Pakistan.

“Aap logo ki wajah se cricket ka sara mahaul kharab ho gaya hai” (“You overly promote an individual and the next thing you know, you end up bashing them”), Iftikhar added.