Demolition at Dubai

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Embarrassment is one thing humiliation another. The defeat handed down to Pakistan by archrival India in a crunch ICC Champions Trophy encounter is literally disgraceful - more so because it happened for the umpteenth time, and very nearly pulled curtains down on Pakistan's quest to defend the coveted title they earned back in 2017. The Green Shirts were undone in all departments of the game - outbatted, outbowled and outfielded. They were pounded into near submission. They were wrecked. Tarnished. In fact, sullied.

It was a total surrender. Let's start with batting. Just 52 runs in the first 10 overs of power play, 27 runs in the next 10 as well as 147 dot balls speak of our struggling batting line-up, boasting the likes of Babar and Rizwan. Our much-vaunted bowling line, studded with express pacers like Shaheen, Harris and Naseem, was equally dismissive - toyed with from the word go. There was no stopping Kohli who blasted an unbeaten hundred. And in fielding, the two dropped catches - both sitters - took away if there were any chances of a comeback.

Every match we play against India turns out to be a replay of the previous one. We refuse to change, and are thus inflicted with the same outcome. We stubbornly stick to the archaic playing style of the 90s. We appear clumsily ignorant that modern-day cricket is no more about traditional book approach, especially in batting; but about aggressive, fast-paced action, marked by improvisation and inventiveness as well as stats-based game plan. It's more of a science rather than just the art.

While there is need for a total overhaul in the approach to the game as well as the team composition, such reforms must not spare the PCB's top hierarchy itself. The long-persisting ad-hocism in the board's administrative set-up should be done away with, and an elected chairman - rather than a political appointee - handed the helm. The incumbent cricket czar - while already a non-cricketer - has got a lot more important on his plate, and is in no position to offer the amount of time, energy and expertise that is required in the cut-throat world of cricket.