Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief selector and head of Pakistan’s National Cricket Academy, Aaqib Javed, has admitted taking a note from India’s success and trying to replicate it.
Learning from India
Since winning the 2024 T20 World Cup, India has been dominating in T20I cricket. The Men in Blue have lost just 5 of their last 37 matches. The champion side has reached another level under captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir.
“I have looked at India’s success and have tried to execute plans for the betterment of Pakistan cricket. Any cricket nation’s success is based on the quality of its talent,” Aaqib said on the PCB podcast.
Getting ready for the T20 World Cup 2026
The former fast bowler thinks that Pakistan had veered off the right path. They’ve always had the talent, but applications and methods were lacking. Aaqib and PCB’s aim is to improve the pathway.
“I think we fell away (behind) in doing the basic things correctly in our cricket system. No matter who you appoint as captain, coach, or selector, unless you don’t have the quality of talent, nothing changes. And quality of talent can be assured by increasing the bench strength and competition, and this is only possible with proper infrastructure and systems,” he added.
Since Pakistan will play all of their matches in the 2026 T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, conditions that are closer to home, Aaqib thinks preparations won’t prove to be that big a challenge. Under Mike Hesson, Pakistan has been progressing. Despite going 0-3 against India in the 2025 Asia Cup, Aaqib is optimistic about Pakistan and thinks they are heading in the right direction.
“Indications are all there; we have good players, they have combined well, and importantly, there is a choice of players now. If the World Cup had been in, say, Australia or South Africa, I would have thought differently. But (this) is the best time for the team to do well,” he concluded.
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