Pakistan made a patchy approach towards SL T20 series

LAHORE: It is a bit surprising if not shocking to see a totally unsettled/patchy approach towards a T20 series by a team that is not only ranked World No 1 but has been considered as the outfit most suited to this newest of international format.

A damning whitewash at the hands of a new-look and rather inexperienced Sri Lanka team was nothing less than a rude awakening call for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) pundits who otherwise have been talking about all is good in the game in recent times.

The series’ one-sided loss has opened up a new debate as to whether Pakistan have an established outfit for the T20 or do we have a batting and bowling line-ups suitable for this format. Indeed the results and performance has given every supporter of the green jersey a timely reminder. With less than a year to go for World Cup T20 in Australia, such shabby performance has brought Pakistan down to square one.

Pakistan have got so impressive record in T20 in recent times that it gives illusion of all is more than fine. The fact of the matter is that it is all fragile and unsettled. We have no idea at this point of time as to who would open the innings for Pakistan in T20 World Cup in a year time. What is the best middle and lower-order combination for the future T20 series and on top of all this who would be leading the side by that time?

What Sarfraz Ahmad has shown as a captain, as a wicketkeeper and as a batsman in recent times is far from satisfactory. Watching him dropping catches, missing stumping chances and failing to score fluently in a consistent manner, gives us impression that his reflexes no appear to be backing him. As if that was not enough his illogical shuffling of bowling and field placement too have cast doubts on his abilities as a captain the place he has learned through a process.

The selection of the team also raises some serious questions, and one of them is of recalling Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad, who lacked the urge and dexterity to stay at the wicket in the series. One can’t overlook the tag of disciplinary issues, dotting their career.

One has no doubts on Misbahul Haq’s abilities as a mentor and the one who has the guts to convince his players to make the best use of their abilities. Today he is wearing more than two caps and that sounds a bit heavy.

In modern day cricket even if you are capable of working on all fronts, it is too difficult to do justice with each and every responsibility. Same is happening here for Misbah. He should have been better off with head coaching job. Chief selector or even batting coach responsibility is an extra burden that totally takes off your mind from focusing on the head coach requirements.

A professional head coach cannot even think of running from one venue to other to see cricketers in action for future selection. His focus is and should always be to look at opponents strong and weakest points and to exploit these to best of his knowledge. That indeed is a full-fledged job. One wonders as to how and who has allowed Misbah to pick everything for himself.

It is time for Pakistan to regroup following shocking whitewash at the hands of totally young and raw Sri Lanka team. The challenge ahead is two-fold, on one hand we are to prepare the team for next year T20 World Cup while on other the World Test Championship is staring at Pakistan and we would be having the first taste of both the formats during forthcoming tour of Australia that starts in less than 20 days’ time.