At its consistently inconsistent best, the Pakistan cricket team is nothing short of being world beaters — its show against England earlier this year and against Australia in the summer, depicted those qualities. However, winning brings with it the art of forgetting. Points are accompanied by a bucket of paint, whitewashing the wall of errors — even the glaring ones — and handing the defaulters breathing space until the next slip-up.
While the warm-up matches help fine-tune a roaring engine, Pakistan’s successful chase against India before the tournament shoved aside the credible worries with the bat. Being allowed to post 150-plus totals against Bangladesh and New Zealand — not the strongest of bowling line-ups — blasted those worries into oblivion. The might with the ball — spinners, especially — further gave the false sense of security that a total, no matter how small, will be enough to defend. The sparkles that were Nasir Jamshed and Raza Hasan handed the belief that all was well and the trophy was within reach.
However, the crumble against South Africa was shoved under the carpet because Pakistan ended up winning that match courtesy Umar Gul’s heroics. The batting lows reached abysmal depths against India, while against Australia, the inability to blast away when needed remained a huge concern but was overlooked because the team made it to the semi-finals, a feat that eight other teams failed to achieve.
In the end, it was the poor bowling and the inability with the bat that separated Pakistan and the superior hosts, who adjusted according to the requirement — bringing in Rangana Herath. Knowing Pakistan’s weakness against left-arm spin worked like a charm. The regrouping will start soon but the knives are already out. After all, fall from grace in Pakistan cricket takes a matter of days.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2012.
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