Misery at World T20

Pakistan have limped out of the World Twenty20 as all plans and hopes of advancing to semi-finals came crashing down

Bruised and battered, Pakistan have limped out of the World Twenty20 as all claims, plans and hopes of advancing to the semi-finals came crashing down in India. For the first four editions of this tournament, Pakistan were frontrunners, with a final appearance in 2007, victory in 2009 and semi-final berths in 2010 and 2012. But the last two events have been a grim reminder of the gap prevailing between the national team and the leading international teams. Pakistan started their ‘preparations’ for the showdown in India, last year in April, with a one-off match against Bangladesh at Mirpur and as the last rites were being administered against a rampant Australia at Mohali, captain Shahid Afridi and coach Waqar Younis were still searching for the perfect combination.

The less said about Afridi’s captaincy during the event the better. He looked increasingly frazzled as the weight of defeats wore him down, right from the Asia Cup to the humbling by Steven Smith’s team on March 25. His game plan was shoddy, field placements all-too defensive, and utilisation of his batsmen incomprehensible. Sarfraz Ahmed, who played two substantial knocks batting in the top-order during the Asia Cup, didn’t get a single opportunity to bat at positions where he could have made an impact, especially in conditions tailor-made for his style and temperament. Waqar was quick to blame his team and labelled it “not good enough” more than once during the course of the tournament, something that surely did not help the confidence and morale of his wards. In the aftermath of this humiliation, the age-old mantra of ‘rebuilding’ is doing the rounds again. The fact remains that Pakistan fall woefully short when it comes to fitness, strategising, fielding and, above all, basic common sense needed to win cricket games. There is a lack of effective planning and execution of the simple skills of the game. Some of the players have been taking things for granted for a long time while the team think tank is quite simply, not close to international standards. The coming days are set to be interesting as the PCB attempts another ‘clean-up’ for the umpteenth time.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2016.

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