Drubbing in NZ
Yet another contest, yet another humiliation. The New Zealand tour proved too much for Team Pakistan. While the touring party could only grab a consolation win in the third and final T20I to avoid a whitewash, they filed to stop the hosts from doing the demolition job and clean-sweeping the two-Test rubber that followed. Pakistan’s extremely poor performance has helped New Zealand top the ICC Test ranking — and that too for the first time in history — dethroning Australia. As for Pakistan, they are only better than the West Indies, Afghanistan and Bangladesh among the top 10 Test playing nations.
Frankly speaking, given Pakistan’s track record Down Under — as well as New Zealand’s improved performance over the last few years — the defeat, in both Test and T20I series, is not surprising. In fact, a victory — or even a draw — would have come as a surprise. Where Pakistan’s drubbing in New Zealand exposed their long-known batting weaknesses related to pace and swing, their poor fielding has surpassed their batting as the biggest factor causing the defeat. The fielders put the efforts of the bowlers, especially of the very impressive Shaheen Shah Afridi, to waste. Had Pakistani fielders held on to nearly a dozen floored catches, in the two Tests, the result of the series would have been different. To the contrary, the Kiwi fielders turned half chances into dismissals to complement the efforts of their bowlers.
It is time for putting the team’s performance on the dissection table before we go into the series against the visiting South African team starting this month. The performance of the team management — including the head coach as well as the batting and bowling coaches — must also come under the microscope. While there is need for the batsmen to adapt to tough batting conditions, what the team needs the most is a good fielding coach.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 7th, 2021.
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