In the cricket world, no team is as inconsistent as Pakistan. It was proved once again when the ICC recently issued Test and One-day Internationals rankings.
There is a huge difference in Pakistan’s Test and ODI rankings. They are in third position in Tests, but have slipped to ninth position in ODIs and seventh in T20Is.
Under Misbah-ul-haq, Pakistan improved their Test ranking and moved from fourth to third place.
Australia have taken a six-point lead over second-placed India. Pakistan trail India by only one point.
This is Pakistan’s best Test ranking since they claimed third position in January 2007 following the series in South Africa, which the home side won 2-1.
But the team led by Azhar Ali is behind even Bangladesh and West Indies and is just above Zimbabwe and Afghanistan.
Interestingly, Afghanistan team with 51 points is ahead of Zimbabwe (47 points). Pakistan team escaped elimination from the 2017 Champions Trophy when it beat Sri Lanka 3-2 in the ODI series to grab the eighth spot before September 30, 2015, the cut-off date for Champions Trophy, throwing West Indies out of the race.
If the team fails to be among the top eight by September 30, 2017, it will have to play the qualifying round for the World Cup 2019. Once again the battle will be between Pakistan and West Indies.
Since 2014, Pakistan have managed to win just three out of the ten ODI series they have played -- a very poor show from a bunch of talented but unorganised players.
ODI captain Azhar Ali is a fine player but he has failed to lead the team successfully. Azhar and company now has a challenging task: to get back among the top eight. Pakistan must have an aggressive captain.
World Cup 2015 champions Australia are the most consistent team. They remain on top in both Test and ODI rankings. New Zealand team has moved to the top of the Twnety20 Internationals rankings for the first time.
This is the eighth time Australia have finished as the number-one Test side since the inception of the current rankings system in 2003.
They topped the table each year from 2003 to 2009. Surprisingly India claimed number-one position in 2010 and 2011. England were the number-one side in 2012. South Africa completed a hat-trick by clinching the top spot in 2013 and retaining it for the next two years.
There is no massive gap in rankings of the other leading teams.
Pakistan are the only ones to have a huge ranking gap in Tests and ODIs. They are among the top three in the longest version of the game but ninth in ODIs with mostly the same players.
The story of Pakistan losing ODIs because of batting failure has been repeated time and time again.
The domestic cricket needs to be overhauled so that talent is identified at an early stage and groomed properly.