Playing Australia

Though cricket is not our national game, it is even more popular than our national game, hockey. We see cricket-crazy youngsters playing cricket wherever they find enough space – on the streets, in parks, in their courtyards and even in graveyards. Without any doubt, the nation is deeply in love with this game. It is due to this cricket-mania that whenever our national cricket team shows extraordinary performance, the entire nation pays massive tribute, but when our team loses, the entire nation vents its anger in every possible way. In the wake of defeat, the team and the entire cricket board is taken to task and cricket fans want the people at the helm to take stringent measures against those who invariably contributed in team’s defeat.

The recently ended series against Australia irked every Pakistani. No player could show any worth-mentioning performance. There is no denying that the tour to Australia has always been a tough one for the green shirts but the way the tourists were stupefied this time by the hosts was unacceptable. Before the start of the series, the cricket board made tall claims that our young and energetic bowlers would make speedy inroads into the Australian batting line-up but it all happened the other way round. In the same way, our batsmen, especially the top-order, miserably failed to stand on the pitch and to add to the total. The bowlers from the host side faced no resistance at all. Now disappointed and dejected cricket fans are demanding root and branch strategies to set the house in order. According to some, the decision of sacking and sidelining Sarfraz Ahmed was hasty and irrational. In the same way, giving Misbah-ul-Haq the dual charge of head-coach and the chief-selector is also being criticised severely. It is time the team management took stock of the situation and did away with the habit of experimentation. No doubt, young talent should be injected into the playing eleven but there should be a balance. In the same way, abrupt changes also have a negative impact on the overall performance of the team.

Muhammad Fayyaz Nawrha

Mianwali