Shocking tactics lead to another chastening defeat

The sorry tale of this lop-sided Indo-Pak ‘rivalry’ continues as Greenshirts surrender meekly to the Men in Blue

It’s a good thought to have the legends of the game give a ‘pep-talk’ on the eve of a big game. It’s a good thought to ease the nerves of the players before a big game, but all that translates into absolutely nothing if the team management and captain fail miserably at reading the cricket pitch or executing the requisite skills.

The sorry tale of this lop-sided Indo-Pak ‘rivalry’ continues as the Greenshirts surrender meekly for the umpteenth time to the Men in Blue at an International Cricket Council (ICC) world event.



On a raging Eden Gardens turner, the think-tank benched their only decent spinner Imad Wasim, to send fans and pundits shaking their heads. Do head coach Waqar Younis and skipper Shahid Afridi even know how to read a cricket pitch?

Four seamers were played on a pitch that was turning square, the top was soft and under-prepared and it seemed no one had a clue.

After being put in bat, the openers were completely at sea as the Indian bowlers aptly used the surface to their advantage by bowling cutters and by pitching the ball consistently at the good length spots.

Pakistan needed their talisman wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfraz Ahmed to bat at number three since his formative years were spent batting on square Karachi turners, his sweep shots and the ability to manoeuvre the ball was just what was that supply of ‘oxygen’ Misbahul Haq had alluded to some two years ago — Sarfraz walked out in the 16th over.

A target of 119 was tricky on this pitch and after India lost Shikhar Dhawan and Suresh Raina to back-to-back Mohammad Sami deliveries, the hosts were reeling at 23-3.



But listless captaincy and some incredibly loose bowling let the Indians off the hook before the blink of an eye.

Afridi failed to realise that he needed to hit the length with his deliveries and the ball would have ripped through the surface offering him bounce and turn but time and again he bowled full length/over-pitched balls that were easily driven down the ground by the Indian batsmen.

The game hung in a balance at 48-3 when Shoaib Malik was brought into the attack against the left-hander Yuvraj Singh; a slip was absolutely essential. Malik’s first ball jumped off the length to Yuvraj’s glove and flew to the slip area at a catchable height but guess what? There was no slip in place.

With such lack of application and tactics on a pitch ideally suited for strangulating stroke players, the Pakistan bowlers and captain allowed the indomitable Virat Kohli and Yuvraj to stitch together a match-winning partnership.



Kohli went on to play another Bradman-esque knock to pummel Pakistan for the umpteenth time. Afridi and his troops were left scratching their heads after another embarrassing defeat which could surely have been avoided by a better understanding of the pitch and tactics.

The wait then continues for the Pakistan fan; it has been 24 years since Imran Khan’s team lost in the group stages of the 1992 World Cup at Sydney, things seem eerily similar even two-decades-and-a-half later.



Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2016.

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