Rashid Latif compares India and Pakistan’s cricketing setups: ‘We treat cricket as a hobby whereas India…’

Rashid Latif, the former Pakistan captain, noted a major difference between the cricketing set-ups in India and Pakistan. India recently
won their second T20 World Cup
after the Men in Blue defeated South Africa by seven runs in Barbados. Pakistan, on the other hand, have fallen short in big tournaments and have not won an ICC title since the 2017 Champions Trophy. Inconsistency and
rumours of conflict between players
in the dressing room have been a couple of major factors that have affected Pakistan’s downfall in big tournaments recently.

At the 2024 T20 World Cup, the Men in Green crashed out in the group stage after finishing third in Group A, behind India and co-hosts USA.

“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 was quoted as saying by News18.

“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 55 year-old pointed out that while India have developed a cricket industry, Pakistan still treat cricket as a hobby. “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 Pat Cummins? Because we don’t have the money so there’s no business,” added Latif.

“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,” added the former wicketkeeper-batter.