Pakistan Team's ‘Lack Of Unity’ Among Topics Discussed At PCB's Cohesion Camp

This crucial issue has sparked conversations and strategies to foster a more cohesive and united team spirit

Growing divisions inside the Pakistan dressing room have been the subject of much speculation /

By Ian Omoro

With what they described as a road map to save the game from its current abyss, the PCB's much-maligned 'connection camp' ended on Monday.

Officials and the team management, which included head coaches Jason Gillespie and Gary Kirsten, recounted a day of candid and animated discussions with the two national captains, Babar Azam and Shan Masood, and a group of other players, regarding a variety of topics, including the lack of togetherness within the national squad.

The camp was set up during one of Pakistan's darkest moments in history when a string of catastrophic on-field outcomes was caused by administrative unrest. Pakistan has lost to the USA in the T20 World Cup, Afghanistan in the ODI World Cup, and most recently, Bangladesh 2-0 in a home Test series.

Growing divisions inside the dressing room have been the subject of much speculation, beginning last year and intensifying this year with the selection and prompt dismissal of Shaheen Shah Afridi as Pakistan's Twenty20 international captain and the reappointment of Babar Azam. When Kirsten, the white-ball coach, first started working there, he reportedly wasn't prepared for how much of it there was.

Chief operating officer of the PCB, Salman Naseer, admitted that the talks had included talk of division, not just between the players and the board but also inside the team.

"The session was about this, that we openly and candidly accept and identify [issues] and ask for a commitment from each other, demand it, on how we can improve our performances and work together as a team. Our unanimous view was that we need to resolve this going forward and identify how we do it," Naseer said at a press conference in Lahore after the camp ended.

Noting that creating a "safe space" was crucial to enabling people to open up, Naseer did not delve into the specifics of the conversations.

Since England will be arriving soon for a three-Test series in October and in the immediate aftermath of Pakistan's defeat to Bangladesh, it is said that the camp did not discuss the more pressing issues facing the Pakistani team.