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*Official* Pakistan in Australia 2019

jimmy101

Cricketer Of The Year
Interesting. Assuming that Naseem is indeed older than 16, it still baffles me how pitting him against u18's will further his development. I'm sure there's method to the madness but I'm struggling to see the advantages.
 

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
So it's clear to me that Naseem Shah has some raw talent, but why do the PCB constantly play such young cricketers at Test level? I can't really see how it'd be a better option than letting them develop at FC level for a few more years and having them debut at the age of 19/20 years old.

Pretty much the only Pakistan cricketer that I can think of that has successfully emerged from such a young age is Shahid Afridi, apart from that there have been plenty of talents wasted thanks in some part to this crazy selection policy.
Seems to be a thing in Pakistan since at least Wasim Akram to pick talented youngsters early rather than letting them develop. It seems to be harder to get in as a 25-26 year old than an 18-19 year old like Naseem. They then pick over-the-hill trundlers like Imran because they're 'experienced'.

Shahid Afridi was 21 when he broke the ODI century balls record and only became 16 retroactively so I'm not really sure he's the best example.
 

Prince EWS

Global Moderator
Interesting. Assuming that Naseem is indeed older than 16, it still baffles me how pitting him against u18's will further his development. I'm sure there's method to the madness but I'm struggling to see the advantages.
It's the players themselves that lie rather than administrators. Starring in at Under 19 World Cup at 21-22 might not do a lot for your "development" but it'd sure do something for your reputation and you likelihood of getting time, money, contracts etc thrown at you. Not to mention the fact that players do in fact get paid for playing youth tournaments.
 

jimmy101

Cricketer Of The Year
Shahid Afridi was 21 when he broke the ODI century balls record and only became 16 retroactively so I'm not really sure he's the best example.
Yeah? I wasn't aware of that at the time.

I've also noticed that this seems to be a thing with B'desh as well (albeit less extreme than the case with Pakistan). I've seen quite a few teenage Bangladeshi talents pop up over the years only for them to fade away from the international scene before they hit 25 years of age. Anyone know if this might be some kind of cultural thing in those countries?
 

jimmy101

Cricketer Of The Year
It's the players themselves that lie rather than administrators. Starring in at Under 19 World Cup at 21-22 might not do a lot for your "development" but it'd sure do something for your reputation and you likelihood of getting time, money, contracts etc thrown at you. Not to mention the fact that players do in fact get paid for playing youth tournaments.
I'm not 100% sure how it works, but I'm guessing that to be eligible to compete in youth tournaments a player must present a certificate of birth, or something equivalent, to be able to play. Is there any chance that the cricketing body might play a role in fluffing their date of birth? It's a bit of a rude question I know :shutup:
 

DriveClub

International Regular
From hearsay rural muslims don't register their children as soon as they're born, they do the birth certificates etc years later and register the year that they do the paperwork as their official birth year. This is anecdotal, not sure how true it is
 

Starfighter

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
I think a decent number of cricketers wouldn't have birth certificate, or not an immediate one, if from the more rural areas of a lot of Asian countries. All you can do is take them at their word.
 

jimmy101

Cricketer Of The Year
From hearsay rural muslims don't register their children as soon as they're born, they do the birth certificates etc years later and register the year that they do the paperwork as their official birth year. This is anecdotal, not sure how true it is
I think a decent number of cricketers wouldn't have birth certificate, or not an immediate one, if from the more rural areas of a lot of Asian countries. All you can do is take them at their word.
That'd explain quite a lot tbh.
 

Daemon

Request Your Custom Title Now!
This discussion is so innocent haha

My birth cert is handwritten on a form. Would be incredibly easy to reproduce a fake one and I guarantee there are heaps of people providing such services in South Asia.
 

veganbob

U19 Captain
I do know from some players that have played at u19 world cup- that they were well over age at the time. I don't want to give the players or the country's name but I actually know of someone that played a under 19 world cup but he was over 30 years old at the time. Lol. Minnow country
 

srbhkshk

International Captain
I think a decent number of cricketers wouldn't have birth certificate, or not an immediate one, if from the more rural areas of a lot of Asian countries. All you can do is take them at their word.
Actually most will have birth certificates, it's just that it's pretty easy to get whatever date you want on that. Most of the times it will involve parents getting the age a bit lower (6 months - 1.5 years) but occasionally it can be a bigger difference.
 

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