Needed — change in ODI strategy

Pakistan suffered yet another One-Day International (ODI) series loss in the UAE with Azhar Ali’s men going down 3-1 to England after a highly disappointing show put up by the national team. In the last two years, Pakistan have soundly been beaten by South Africa, Australia and New Zealand before the latest debacle against England. The growing demands of the rapidly evolving ODI game have become almost an insurmountable challenge for the national team. It is clear that Pakistan are yet to crack the code of the modern ODI game where batsmen are expected to post huge scores at breathtaking pace and bowlers are supposed to aim for wickets rather than merely containing batsmen.

The mindless chopping and changing of the playing-eleven meant that Pakistan were not able to field a settled combination in any match of the series. Besides having to deal with Younus Khan’s surprise retirement, the team management ignored Ahmed Shehzad for the first three games. Newcomer Iftikhar Ahmed was needlessly rushed into the team, and by the time the fourth game was held in Dubai, both Iftikhar and Bilal Asif — who had singlehandedly won Pakistan the series decider against Zimbabwe recently — were chucked out of the playing-eleven. The promising Zafar Gohar was also dropped despite a good debut performance. How exactly does the team management expect newcomers to perform in such an uncertain environment? Coming to the bowling, the tiring fast bowling duo of Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Irfan had nothing left in the tank with Jos Butler unleashing mayhem in the final overs of the last game. The fragile bodies of the two fast bowlers are clearly not being given enough rest. The batsmen, on the other hand, seem clueless when it comes to building huge totals while keeping wickets intact, the primary reason for the series loss. Another worry for Pakistan is that the team management is yet to come to grips with the loss of Mohammad Hafeez as a bowler. Azhar Ali continues to harp on this loss in his media interactions, while ignoring the fact that it has been months since Hafeez was banned and by now Pakistan should have come up with an alternative plan. It is clear that our ODI game and strategy needs some serious overhauling. We suggest that the board and team management get down to accomplishing this task without delay.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd,  2015.

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