India Developed a Cricket Industry, We Still Treat it as a Hobby: Ex-Pakistan Captain’s Unfiltered Comparison – News18

Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif has analysed the downfall in his country’s cricketing set-up, explaining how it’s different from India. The men in blue recently won the T20 World Cup 2024 in the Caribbean by defeating South Africa in the final. Indian captain Rohit Sharma cited the hard work of his team in the past years which culminated in the triumph and ended the drought of ICC titles.

On the other hand, Pakistan cricket has been facing flak from fans over their inconsistency in the big tournaments and the rumours of unrest in the dressing room. The men in green have been struggling to constitute a strong side since winning the ICC Champions Trophy 2017. The recent debacle in the T20 World Cup 2024 has forced the board to rebuild the squad.

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Meanwhile, Latif highlighted the differences between the two cricketing nations. He said with IPL being data-driven, India has increased their talent pool. On the other hand, PSL is yet to make progress.

“It’s not that India became a reckoning force in world cricket recently, after the World Cup. Go back to 2007, 2011, 2015. They have gained so much knowledge from the foreign coaches and at the same time, they are working at the grassroots level without being noticed,” Latif said.

“And then IPL came into play. And now, they have all the best minds with them. They have Ponting with DC, Hussey, and Bravo. But hum kya kar rahe hain,” he added.

The former cricketer highlighted how India could made IPL a global brand but PSL didn’t taste that kind of a success.

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“India, just like their film industry, developed a cricket industry. We treat cricket as a hobby that’s why we couldn’t turn it into a business. PSL is still there from where it had started. The highest salary cap is $1.40 lakh. Why can’t they push it further? Why can’t we have players like Mitchell Starc or Oat Cummins? Because we don’t have the money so there’s in no business,” Latif said.

“People who conceptualized PSL were thrown out within a year. They had a vision to expand it but it never happened. Humse zyada players Bangladesh mein khel rahe hain (BPL has more foreign players than PSL). Moeen Ali is there, and so is David Miller, just because they have the money. We couldn’t progress,” he added.