Fifth and final ODI: Humiliation of whitewash awaits Pakistan

Former chief selector Rasheed feels visitors can’t win with current squad

KARACHI: As Pakistan prepare for the fifth and final ODI of their one-sided series against England in Cardiff today, former chief selector and Test batsman Haroon Rasheed laments the dearth of quality players for white-ball formats which has left Azhar Ali’s team at the cusp of a humiliating 5-0 whitewash.

Rasheed, who presided the selection committee for one year, explained that Pakistan fans and stakeholders need to realise that they are miles behind leading teams; and that at present the incumbent bunch of players can’t win and can only hope to compete.

“The fact is that there is a huge gulf between us and leading teams such as England,” said Rasheed, while speaking to The Express Tribune. “Since the 2015 World Cup we have plummeted to new lows due to the deficiencies of the talent pool. When I took over [as chief selector], the talent pool wasn’t good enough.”



Rasheed said the team has failed to replace their stalwarts. “Just before the World Cup, we lost our best bowlers — Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul —due to various reasons, as well as veterans Misbahul Haq and Younus Khan in the batting department.”

Rasheed added that the defeat to England should be an eye-opener for all concerned, and rather than excessively criticising players and selectors, we need to be honest in our assessments since we are way behind in white-ball formats.

“Leading teams have athleticism and power, which we simply don’t have,” he said. “How can we expect to win when we add to that their better fielding standards?”



‘Batsmen win matches’

Rasheed also demanded that the media should help dispel the notion that bowlers win matches in the white-ball formats.

In present day cricket, pitches are incredibly conducive to stroke-play with even bounce; very rarely will a bowler outperform the batsmen, and Rasheed feels Pakistan need a power-packed batting line-up to win. This lack of hitting power has led to the downfall of Azhar and his men.

“Pakistan haven’t scored more than 40-45 runs in the first 10 overs,” said Rasheed. “Even when wickets are lost at the start, the other teams continue to go hard at the bowlers. The Pakistan team doesn’t have capable batting after number six and our strike rates are poor. ODI and T20I matches are won primarily by the batsmen; bowlers will only win you the odd game and that too when they are backed by the fielders.”



Rasheed sympathised with injured pacer Mohammad Irfan, who went into the match with hardly any match practice.

“He was practicing in temperatures of 42 degrees in Lahore and two days later was playing in 17 degrees,” pointed out Rasheed. “He already has a fragile body due to his frame so his injury was almost inevitable.”

Haroon added that the selectors need to leave team decisions with the team management and revealed that Azhar and then coach Waqar Younis had complete freedom in choosing the starting line-up during his time in charge.

The climb up the table is a difficult one for Pakistan but Haroon has a way forward. “We need to develop separate squads for Test and white-ball formats; we need a pool of 20-25 players and need to improve the shot-making skills of our batsmen,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2016.

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