Pakistan Cricket's Downfall-Imran Khan's Urgent Warning from Prison

The Pakistan cricket scenario is in shambles with the country's national cricket team's shocking exit from the current 2025 Champions Trophy. The home side suffered two humiliating back-to-back losses to their arch-rivals India and New Zealand, in Karachi and Dubai respectively. Not only has this dismal performance shocked cricket enthusiasts throughout the country, but also attracted the notice of former PM and cricket legend Imran Khan, who voiced his concerns from behind bars.

Imran Khan's Scathing Explanation of Pakistan Cricket Fiasco

Pakistan cricket captain Imran Khan, who in 1992 led the country to World Cup triumph, is dismayed by the state of cricket in the nation, his sister Aleema Khan has told. During a media interview near Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, Aleema disclosed that Imran had witnessed Pakistan play India and was immensely disappointed with how the team had performed.

His discontent, however, was not only with the players out on the pitch. The former premier also expressed displeasure at the administration within the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and specifically targeted PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi for special vitriol. Imran is reported to have said that cricket in Pakistan came close to running into bankruptcy owing to qualified professionals being placed within the key decision-making positions. His observation is aimed at a fear that political influence and favoritism have grossly marred the administration of the sport.

The Perception of Former PCB Chairman Najam Sethi on the Deterioration

While Imran Khan blames the existing PCB leadership for the current debacle, former chairman of the PCB Najam Sethi has pinned the blame on Imran himself. In a social media entry, Sethi contended that Pakistan's cricketing decline had started during Imran's premiership when a sweeping overhaul of the domestic cricket system was done.

Sethi, the PCB chairman from December 2022 to June 2023, regretted that Pakistan has gone from being the number one team in T20s (2018), Tests (2016), and ODIs (1990 and 1996) to being among the lower-ranked teams. He also believed that Pakistan, having won the World Cup in 1992 and the Champions Trophy in 2017, is at rock bottom today.

The 2019 Structural Overhaul and Its Impact

Its most contentious aspect arguably is the restructuring of home cricket in 2019. Under Imran's leadership, PCB eliminated the traditional 16-18 departmental and regional structure and established a six-team first-class model. The shift, which was borrowed from Australia, was designed to improve the standard of home cricket but resulted in watering down the grassroots growth of talent, critics argue. Most of them lost their professional contracts, and financial insecurity deprived young talent of becoming professional cricketers.

Sethi denounced such reshuffling as a misfit pattern for Pakistan cricket hierarchy. He also pointed out how political influence continued to rock PCB's policy-making process. He blamed the board for aberrant policies like the appointment of foreign coaches and their sudden sackings, haphazard selection committee appointments, and the recruitment of retired cricketers as mentors in the absence of any strategy.

The Fallout of Leadership Changes in PCB

Imran Khan's regime witnessed revolutionary changes in the PCB leadership, such as the appointment of Ehsan Mani as chairman in 2019 and later Ramiz Raja in 2021. But with the fall of Imran's government in 2022, the PCB chairman's seat was once more occupied by Najam Sethi. All such upheavals in the leadership had the tendency to destabilize Pakistan cricket, adding an extra layer of difficulty to the performance of the team overseas.

This instability, Sethi says, also led to power struggles among the team members, with cliques forming and captaincy being a norm. This disintegration from within, combined with the management issues at PCB, has been the cause of Pakistan's recent poor run.

Can Pakistan Cricket Rebuild?

Even in the dark situation, Sethi is convinced that cricket in Pakistan can be revived—on the condition that the leadership recognizes the causes of the sickness and seeks to make up for them. He stressed that there should be experienced and competent people in the PCB and cricketing merit should be given precedence over political loyalties.

Even his statement from inside the prison walls is a call to action for the country. As a previous captain who had led Pakistan to their first-ever World Cup victory, his opinion has a considerable amount of influence. His remark against nepotism in PCB calls for an urgent need to reform so as to revive the reputation of cricket in Pakistan.

The 2025 Champions Trophy fiasco has led to serious questioning of the Pakistan cricket administration, triggering basic questions on leadership, domestic set-up, and player management. Failure to take timely corrective measures can lead to further Pakistan cricket decline in stature.

In a nation where cricket is not merely a sport but more of a national obsession, it is really jarring. Whether or not Pakistan can overcome this and reclaim its lost glory remains to be seen, but one thing for sure is that without drastic structural change and firm leadership, the journey is going to be tough.