Cricket is as much a mental game as it is a physical one. Confidence, composure, and mental toughness play a crucial role in the effectiveness of players, especially bowlers. A lack of confidence in pressure situations can affect performance.

Bowling effectiveness often depends on the consistency of line and length as well as the ability to exploit weaknesses in the opposition. Effective bowling often depends on the synergy between bowlers and their captain. Team dynamics, captaincy, and strategies can impact the performance of the bowling unit.

Pakistan started the World Cup 2023 as one of the favourites and with two wins in first two matches, against the Netherlands and against Sri Lanka with the highest ever chase (345) they proved that they could qualify for the semi-finals.

Pakistan’s defeats to India, Australia and especially against Afghanistan were humiliating. Pakistan were completely outplayed in all departments of the game in the three matches. Batting failed, bowling was ineffective and the fielding was sloppy.

The Pakistan team didn’t learn anything from the defeat in the two warm-up matches, especially the failure of “the world-class bowling attack”.

The Pakistan team recently got the honour of becoming the world number one ODI team but then changed everything with the big defeat against India in the Asia Cup.

“The world’s most dangerous bowling attack” is now becoming ineffective for the rival teams.

Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Hassan Ali, Shadab Khan and Usama Mir are not as effective as we want them to be. They don’t have early wicket-taking ability. They all seem to lack the necessary discipline.

Shaheen, Haris and Hassan have yet to find their rhythm in the mega event. Afridi has been quite soft since his comeback. Rauf, who also returned from injury recently, appears far from his best. Hassan spent a long period out of the team and was suddenly included in this tournament as a strike bowler who appears to be quite rusty.

The economy rate of Shaheen Shah Afridi (11/179), Hasan Ali (8/239) and Haris Rauf (8/286) is 5.97, 5.82 and 6.97, respectively.

On the other hand, Indian fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has taken 11 wickets in five matches with an economy rate of just 3.80.

India were very disciplined and accurate in their bowling. This made it very difficult for opposition batsmen to score runs.

New Zealand’s Mitchell Josef Santner has taken 12 wickets in five matches with an excellent average of 16.91 and an economy rate of 4.25.

Sri Lanka’s Lokumarakkalage Dilshan Madushanka has also taken 11 wickets, averaging 21.18.

These fast bowlers’ figures show that support from the pitch was there. If bowlers give their 100 per cent and fielders provide full backing, pacers not only contain the batsmen but also force them to make mistakes.

Pakistani fast bowlers failed to take early wickets that allowed the opposition batsmen to score runs freely in the middle overs.

Shaheen Shah Afridi earned a reputation over the last few years and evolved into a genuine elite ODI bowler. Only 20 bowlers in history have taken 20+ wickets in the first over of an international match, and Shaheen is among them.

But in this World Cup, Shaheen’s performance has been far from his reputation. He has taken 11 wickets in five matches, averaged over 25 and conceded 5.97 runs per over.

Since the Asia Cup, Shaheen has taken 24 wickets in 12 matches with an average of 23.95 and a high economy rate of 5.60.

The biggest concern of the Pakistan team is the form of the spinners. In the middle overs, the role of spinners is very important, but three Pakistani spinners neither keep the run rate down nor do they pick up wickets.

Shadab Khan (2/180), Muhammad Nawaz (2/183) and Usama Mir (1/137) have collectively taken only five wickets after conceding 500 runs i.e. 100 runs per wicket.

With this performance how can anyone expect them to restrict batsmen like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, David Warner, and Quinton de Kock!

Experts are asking why all three spinners failed collectively while on the same pitches other spinners are not only containing the batsmen but also taking wickets.

Australian spinner Adam Zampa after five matches of the event was the highest wicket-taker with 13 scalps, averaging just 17.76 and a strike rate of 18.

Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav has also taken eight wickets, with a reasonable average of 29.62, but his economy rate of 4.74 is amazing.

Even Ravindra Jadeja, who is not a great spinner, has taken seven wickets in five games with a good average of 27.14 and an amazing economy rate of 3.97.

South Africa’s Keshav Athmanand Maharaj who is not a top rank spinner has also taken seven wickets with an average of 27 and an economy rate of 4.60.

Questions have been raised about Pakistan captain Babar Azam after the team saw three consecutive losses at the ICC World Cup. Critics expressed their displeasure over Babar’s leadership qualities. He is a good batsman but not a good captain. Babar has led the Pakistan team in major events for four years but there was no improvement in his captaincy.

Experts think that Babar is not the suitable man to lead the team in all three formats as he has not proven himself to be an impressive captain so far.

After every defeat the skipper and the management repeat the same thing: we made mistakes, but will learn from our mistakes and will bounce back.

Pakistan don’t have a strong bench strength as do India and other teams. Greenshirts depend on 12-15 players. They rotate these players despite repeated failures.

khurrams87@yahoo.com

NOTE: All statistics are updated upto Pakistan vs Afghanistan match.