Imagine this: Pakistan take the field at the World Cup 2011 and the opening bowlers are not from Rawalpindi and Karachi but two lanky rookies from the snow-ridden valley of Chitral and the flats of Bannu: the same pair who shone in the previous year's junior World Cup and have progressed steadily through various age-groups.It may seem a far-fetched prospect presently - Chitral and Bannu being represented as much as a seamless transition through different age levels - but it may well become a credible vision soon. Or so a new talent hunt scheme launched earlier this year hopes.
Mobilink Hunt for Heroes, a joint effort between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Mobilink, Pakistan's premier mobile-network provider, was launched after the debacle at the 2007 World Cup. The embarrassing exit not only left the country weeping for a second successive World Cup, but also forced the entire cricket fraternity wondering into introspection: where was Pakistan cricket going wrong?
At grassroots level, it was discovered. And so amid the broad belief that there lies hidden treasure in the most obscure corners of the country, this massive program was unveiled. Covering 52 districts throughout the country and all four provinces, the hunt reached out not only to residents of urban centres such as Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi, but also to locations off the beaten track, such as Hub, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur, Nawabshah and Chitral.
The plan was not to spot talent ready to be drafted into the first-class system and, after a couple of seasons, in to the national side. No, for that would, in effect, not be different from other talent hunt schemes in the past. This joint venture aimed solely at 13-16 year-olds who believed they had what it takes to play for Pakistan.
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© Faras Ghani 2007
Published on Cricinfo 18th Dec 2007
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