Back to losing ways

A 3-0 whitewash in the T20I series - preceded just about a week by a much admired 2-1 victory in the ODI rubber - demonstrates the inconsistency that Team Pakistan is notorious for. When the Green Shirts, under the white-ball new skipper, Muhammad Rizwan, decimated the Australians in Australia in a one-day series after a long gap of 22 years, it was widely appreciated in the cricket world, given that hunting the kangaroos in their own habitat is no mean feat. But in store was a shocking fall from the ascent.

The visitors were in total disarray in the first and last T20Is; and while they did make a bit of match in the second one, they failed to finish it in victory, losing by 13 runs. The margin of defeat in the first and the last game - 29 runs and 7 wickets respectively - speaks of how one-sided were the contests. Our big names in batting failed yet again. Babar Azam did surpass a notable milestone - dethroning India's Virat Kohli from the second spot in terms of most runs in T20Is - during his 41-run knock in the final match, he failed to take the team to safer shores. Babar has been consistently criticised for "playing for personal records" that make little or no difference to the team's overall performance. The bowlers - truly talented though - were off-colour too.

That the team needs a revamp goes without saying. In particular, there is need to spot new talent who could be groomed as power hitters. Nearly all our batters, whether new and seasoned, are accustomed to old style of batting that features taking time to adjust before starting to use long handle, while the modern-day batting is all about indulging in fireworks from the word go. Pakistan think tank, including the newly-appointed head coach Aqib Javed, has its task cut out - rebuilding Team Pakistan on modern lines before the ICC Champions Trophy that's just a couple of months away.