Debacle in England

The disappointment and heartbreak that the Pakistan cricket team’s supporters have been made to suffer through, during the course of the Champions Trophy, has brought into the limelight like never before, the fact that Pakistan have a huge crisis on their hands as far as the side’s batting is concerned. While there had been signs for some time now that the stock in Pakistan’s batting cupboard was running low, the highly inept display of its batsmen has now shown clearly that the cupboard has actually been empty all along.

In the three matches that the team played, which were all lost, it was bundled out for 170, 167 and 165, undoing any good work that the highly talented bowling attack came up with. The main culprits in the debacle were Muhammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Imran Farhat and Kamran Akmal, who despite all having been part of the national set-up for at least 10 years now, did not display any sign of the experience they may have accumulated during this time.

Faulty selection — which keeps laying emphasis on those who have regularly disappointed — lack of technique and skill to counter quality bowling, and defensive captaincy seem to be the main reasons behind the debacle. What is now needed is an overhaul of the batting line-up. There is a strong case to be made for the return of Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal, as well as giving talented cricketers like Hammad Azam and Haris Sohail a decent run in the side. Farhat, Malik and Akmal need to be shown the door for good and Hafeez needs to be told that he is completely out of his depth batting in the top order — and needs to drop lower down, where he can be more effective. Pakistan need to start preparing for the 2015 World Cup but if those in authority continue to keep faith in players who have disappointed the nation time and again, we should not keep too many high hopes for a creditable showing in the mega event.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18^th, 2013.

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