In a country where there are many talented cricketers waiting for a chance, all Pakistan could pick were the tried and tested cricketers who might not last more than a couple of years
Twenty years back when Pakistan’s Test team defeated England under Wasim Akram, the British press termed the drubbing ‘Pakistunned’ but sadly, 20 years later, it was the men in green’s turn to be humiliated in England.
After levelling the 4-match Test series under the charismatic leadership of Misbah-ul-Haq, the men fared really bad in the coloured kit, something that was not expected after the Tests.
So why were the Men in Green not able to perform in ODIs the way they did in Tests? There wasn’t any planning despite having Mickey Arthur at the helm. Also, there was lack of aggression from the visiting captain who took 80-odd deliveries to score a half-century in the first match, setting the foundation of what went on to become a one-sided series.
Had the series started on an aggressive note for the visitors, things might have turned out different.
Secondly, the problem lies with the senior cricketers in the side some of whom have been playing for more than a decade! Be it Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez or Umar Gul, if you don’t perform you don’t deserve to be in the side but in Pakistan, the more senior you are, the brighter the chances of your staying in the squad.
What if Umar Gul hits a six on the penultimate ball of the innings in the 4th ODI; when it comes to bowling he donates runs rather than the batsmen earning them.
Mohammad Hafeez should have been sent back home after the Test series and the in-form Asad Shafiq could have been added to the squad in his place; the selectors didn’t think of that until Hafeez failed again and he was sent to Pakistan with an injury.
Shoaib Malik has been dropped on record occasions but then he has been selected as well and until being dropped for the penultimate match, he had his eyes set on the next Cricket World Cup.
Talking of the World Cup brings one question to the mind: what’s the Pakistan Cricket Board’s plan to avoid the embarrassment of playing the World Cup Qualifiers? In a country where there are many talented cricketers waiting for a chance, all they could pick were the tried and tested cricketers who might not last more than a couple of years. They should have followed the example of India who dropped as many as four World Cup 2011-winning cricketers after dismal individual performances; in Pakistan all the four cricketers might still have been playing.
Pakistan have lost the ODI series against England but does that mean that heads will roll after the debacle? Will there be a change in guards at home? ‘No’ seems to be the likely answer because there are still positions below number 9 and Pakistan team seems to be targeting them.
Losing matches is not bad if the losing side plays to the best of its ability; it is losing stupidly that irks the cricket-loving public. If things aren’t taken care of in the corridors of power, there might come a time when Pakistan would be known as Once Mighty Cricket nation like the West Indies.