Sri Lanka and Pakistan were a force to be reckoned with in international cricket for decades, but in the last few years both of them have failed to produce good performances at the highest level. They failed to qualify for the semi-finals of the ODI World Cup last year and suffered defeats against Afghanistan, and then in the T20 World Cup 2024, they also failed to qualify for the Super 8s.

In the 20-team tournament played in the West Indies and USA, Pakistan lost its opening match against the United States in Dallas, whereas Sri Lanka went down against Bangladesh to suffer a shocking exit from the first round itself. And if the first-round exit in the T20 World Cup was not enough, then last week Pakistan lost a Test match at home against Bangladesh for the first time ever.

The poor performances in recent times by the two former World Cup winners have come as a surprise for cricket fans around the world. During a Cricbuzz show, a fan asked former Indian wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik about the reason behind the downfall of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, to which he said that both these countries have failed to produce quality cricketers in the last few years due to poor domestic cricket structure, and that has played a big role in their downfall.

“A few things. Number one, you need a very strong domestic structure for you to do well in international cricket. That has been a challenge for both of these teams over the years. Financially, they’ve had their struggles, and hence, it reflects in the infrastructure development. And in turn, it reflects in their domestic cricket. And hence, they’ve not been able to produce the quality of cricketers they have produced over the years,” Karthik said.

“It’s a very big cycle—how you get your finances, how you use them for the cricket, and in turn, how you make sure that the domestic cricket is held. And that will definitely feed into international cricket,” he added.

Except Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan Pakistan has failed to produce quality batters in the last few years, and that has hurt the side on big occasions. On the other hand, Sri Lanka is still searching for replacements of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sanagkkara, who retired almost a decade ago.

Source: News18
--Agencies