Dubai: Aaqib Javed, who stepped down after a four-and-half year stint as the head coach of the UAE national team, is by far the most successful coach in the associate member’s cricketing history. Under the former Pakistan ace’s guidance, UAE teams qualified for World Cups in both the 50-over and T20 formats besides the Under-19 World Cup and the Asia Cup.
In an exclusive interview with Gulf News, Javed talked about the challenges he had to overcome in creating a winning combination, the state of cricket infrastructure and future prospects of UAE in a wide-ranging interview. Excerpts:
How tough was it to create a winning combination out of the talent in UAE?
My first interaction with the UAE players as soon as I joined as the coach was in their match against Scotland at Sharjah. It was very shocking when I saw them playing. Their physical appearance, commitment level and mindset were just that of club cricketers. All they wanted was to wear the UAE national team shirt and nothing else.
It was the mindset of players as well as everyone from top to bottom. They were just there and going through a routine activity which they were doing for many years. They never wanted to move on. I told them that I am a professional coach and that I have left Pakistan team’s coaching job not to sit and enjoy. My philosophy of coaching is progress. I told them bluntly that they are all wasting their time and if they want to play the game, they must play it the proper way. It was tough to convince the players, who were all employed, to transform them into professional cricketers. I presented them my plan and said that I don’t take a no.
How did you go about implementing your plan?
I realised that you cannot convince them without showing them a roadmap. I did it through me. I started running, training, showed them my body as to how fit I am despite not playing. Firstly, I asked them to do half the work I do. This is the way it all started. I believe success comes with honesty. Honesty to yourself and to others. Honesty also makes you brave and if you are honest you don’t have to be afraid of anything and can push yourself to work hard.
When you look back, do you think removing Khurram Khan as captain just before the 2015 World Cup did affect the team’s performance in the World Cup?
That was very obvious and there is no second thought about it. No one can justify this change. For me, who played in the 1992 World Cup, this change would have been like if Imran Khan, just a month before the 1992 World Cup, was removed as captain. It could have been Pakistan’s disaster. Khurram had played a great role as a captain to help UAE qualify for the World Cup.
Where the selectors very supportive and gave you the players you wanted for the team always?
In this case, I follow a very simple method. During a selection meeting, you can fight your case. Once the team is selected and even if the selectors’ team is not my team, I will never comment on it after it. They had given me the chance to fight during the meeting and it is my ability to fight it out and get the team from the selectors. Once they sign the team, then it becomes my team.
There has been a lot of talk that when UAE started losing that it was because you are essentially a bowler-turned-coach and hence, you could not help the batsmen in the team?
I am a professional coach and I don’t believe in blame game. I always tried to get the best from the players. Whoever made those comments don’t realise that for the last two years, until three months back, Mudassar Nazar was our team’s batting coach. If Mudassar cannot coach batting, who else can do it?
You can bring the best of best coaches but coaching batsmen requires lot of time. Batting needs good routine. As a bowler, even if you practice only twice a week and keep your fitness level high, you can still perform. As a batsmen you have to have practice for three to four times a week. Batting is really complex and it needs consistency. Any team will start losing if they lose top batsmen, so did UAE.
The perfect example is Sri Lankan team when two of their senior batsmen, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, retired. For the UAE, Khurram Khan, Saqib Ali and Andrei Benger, who were doing well, left the team. Some other players could not focus on the game after the World Cup because they had to return to their routine jobs and lifestyle.
They all had a very demanding schedule before the World Cup: working the whole day in the office and finishing the training at 11pm and again getting ready next morning for work. It was an unusual and unrealistic lifestyle that could not have been prolonged. Now it is a new beginning with contracts coming and the team is back on track. Once you have full-time players, the results will show in six to eight months.
How do you find the club level standard here?
First of all there are no clubs here. What we have here is just corporate teams. Clubs are those who have their own ground. They will have facility for their players to come and train. This is what clubs are all over the world. They will have junior and senior teams and will have fixtures and play regularly. What we have is corporate teams and the academies here are total commercial ones. It is not for cricket’s development.
Why do you say all the cricket academies here are commercial?
Go to any top cricket-playing nation; the councils and states will have their own academy. They select players and help them. They don’t compromise on quality – a trial-based activity where the best batsman and bowlers are brought into the academy and is supported. In UAE, it’s just the opposite and it’s all commercial. Anyone can walk in, pay and play. So it is really difficult for a very talented guy to play with people who are playing as hobbies. The next step should be that every council should have their academy, which is based on development of players and not for commercial purpose.
What did you tell your players when they played top Test nations to give a fight, especially in the recent Asia Cup?
I made different themes for each game. When we played against India, I tell them that today’s theme should be not to panic. Just stay calm and don’t look at their faces and don’t get affected by their glamour, like saying I am bowling to Virat Kohli. When we played against Pakistan, I made another theme, which was to be brave. Pakistan have fast bowlers and one should not get afraid of it. Mudassar Nazar was of great help, he is a very experienced and intelligent person who gave good tips to handle top teams.
Do you think UAE suffers from lack of exposure?
Exposure comes with performance. You cannot convince any national team to come and play a series here. There is also another dilemma with UAE cricket and that is they don’t have any supporters. Even if the UAE team is playing against Afghanistan at Sharjah or Dubai, you will have 2,000 Afghanis but not one supporter from UAE. Same is the case when we play against Nepal. So this is a reality which cannot be changed.
What is your advice to parents who ask whether their child progress in cricket by playing here?
If UAE cricket grows one more step, which is like giving the central contract to the players, then the people can make this central contract as career and youngsters should definitely go for it. UAE have played in every format, so exposure is there and money will come through contracts. This is the right time to convince parents not to be sending their talented boys out of UAE. There is talk going on to liaison with universities in supporting their study programmes to keep youngsters in UAE. I just had a talent hunt and I have seen almost 2,000 players all over UAE. So these sort of activities like talent hunt are really important as everybody cannot affort to go to academies or play for the corporate teams.
What is your next goal as a coach?
A period of more than four years with one team is a long journey as a coach. If I continue here, it will be a repetition of whatever we have achieved. I needed a new goal and that is Lahore Qalandars, who finished last at number five in the Pakistan Super League. Making them a champion in the next PSL will be my next challenge. I would be working as consultant in Pakistan Cricket in their development. There are offers coming from India as one of the states has asked me to help them in their bowlers’ hunting programme. So there are lot of opportunities.
With the UAE, it’s a happy ending.
