New HPC will help Pakistan close gap on top teams within 6 months: Nadeem Khan

New HPC will help Pakistan close gap on top teams within 6 months: Nadeem Khan

June 02, 2020
High Performance Centre (HPC) Director Nadeem Khan.

Among the many changes made under the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) incumbent regime, one was its decision to merge domestic cricket with the National Cricket Academy (NCA) and name the new entity High Performance Centre (HPC).

Heading the newly made unit is HPC Director Nadeem Khan, with whom Geo Super caught up to find out what would be so different under him and what his goals are.

Nadeem’s appointment as the HPC director coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, which means that his schemes have not truly kicked off. But once they do, he claims results will be delivered within six months.

READ: PCB converts Karachi HPC into living facility for paramedics fighting coronavirus

“So far only the name of NCA has changed; actual work has not begun yet which is why no difference can be seen yet. Our work will be seen in the next six months. Then it won’t seem that only the name of NCA has changed,” he said.

'Prior coaches did well but we'd do better'

Nadeem, the sibling of famous 90s wicketkeeper Moin Khan, did not take potshots at his predecessors but he did say that Pakistan cricket’s domestic structure was not at par with the rest of the top teams – something he is keen to fix.

“It’s not that work was not done under previous regimes. Those who were at the NCA did good work and Pakistan did produce good players but everyone also noticed that there was a major disparity between Pakistan cricket and modern day cricket," he said.

"This was noted in Test cricket too so the High Performance Centre was created to reduce that vast difference. We do not have to just cover this gap ASAP but we also have to take the lead."

'Saqlain, Bradburn will deliver'

Nadeem defined the roles of Saqlain Mushtaq, the head of international player development, and Grant Bradburn, head of coaching.

“We had coaches before as well but this time a concentrated effort has been made to assign an expert to a particular field. Mushtaq will identify new talent with the help of local coaches and develop them. The HPC will be of international standards. This is a difficult task but Mushtaq is capable of delivering results,” he said.

READ: Saqlain Mushtaq, Grant Bradburn given top roles in High Performance Centre

“Similarly, Bradburn will identify local coaches and educate them as per modern cricket standards.”

Nadeem also defended the PCB’s move to merge the two setups.

“This was the perfect time to merge domestic department and academies because all teams in domestic cricket are now under the board's control. Both these departments had one task, which was to develop players for Pakistan,” he told Geo Super.

“Now there won’t be any player who will not get an opportunity. Players will be developed at the HPC and then they will be given chances in first-class cricket under all circumstances. Players from U-19 level won’t get lost either.”

Sohail Imran is a senior reporter for Geo News.

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