Amidst uncertainty on whether India will travel to Pakistan to play 2025 Champions Trophy matches, former spinner Saqlain Mushtaq said it does not matter to him whether or not the visitors’ will come to the country for the eight-team tournament. Pakistan were hosts’ of Men’s Asia Cup 2023, but with India refusing to travel, it meant Sri Lanka were roped in as the venue to stage the tournament in a hybrid model. India has not played in Pakistan since 2008 Men’s Asia Cup due to security concerns.

“It’s simple. If India wants to come, they can. If they don’t want to come, it doesn’t matter. There’s no point in making a fuss about it. This won’t make either party good or bad. This is ICC’s event, and they will look into this matter, as they should,” Mushtaq was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.

Mushtaq, a former head coach of the Pakistan team, also spoke about how the current team management should look to appoint a new captain of the side post a disappointing group-stage exit in 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup, while lamenting the lack of long-term vision in previous appointments.

“Many people are saying that he (Babar Azam) should quit captaincy and play as a regular player. But all these voices are coming from outside, from people who are watching and listening to things from the outside. These are comments from outsiders. We shouldn’t listen to the voices of those outside.”

“The people inside, who are observing the situation from within, should see what’s really going on and decide who is capable of leading the team effectively. If you have to appoint a captain, do you look at the short term, long term, or mid term? What are you considering when appointing a captain?”

“We don’t seem to have a vision; we look at what’s going to happen tomorrow and appoint a captain, then change the team the next day. Because the people making these decisions don’t even know if they’ll be around tomorrow, there’s no plan for the long term,” he elaborated.

Mushtaq signed off by advising Pakistan to refrain from chopping and changing their captains constantly, adding that this won’t help them in creating a world-class side. “If you want to create a leader, where does the philosophy of working together go? How will you work together?”

“If you don’t have any plan, you’ll make anyone the captain. The more you keep chopping and changing, the more time you’ll have to give to experiments. And before experimenting, you have to create a complete strategy and look at the pros and cons of that experiment.”

“Now imagine you remove Babar and Shaheen and bring in someone else. Who will evaluate them? Who will see that the captain, whoever it is, should be made for the next 2-3 years and how they will produce results for Pakistan? Unfortunately, there is no system here. A system has never been created, and there has never been any ambition to create one.”

“We don’t have the ambition to say that we will groom 3-4 captains over the next 5 years from Under-19 to associations based on their performances. Their performances should be evaluated not just by watching matches or results, but by talking to them, listening to them, understanding their vision, and looking at their leadership qualities.”

“By following this process, you will see which leader emerges. I don’t see any of these things here. If we keep appointing a third, fourth, and fifth captain in this manner, we will never create a top-class team, nor will we be recognized globally,” he concluded.