Asia Cup defeat — lessons to be learnt

Sri Lanka beat Pakistan in convincing fashion on March 8 to lift the Asia Cup, with their deserving victory set up by fast bowler Lasith Malinga, who was the cause of a familiar top-order collapse for Pakistan, before the Lankan batsmen made light work of the 261-run target. Pakistan lost their second successive game to Sri Lanka in the tournament which, after two fiercely-contested encounters against India and Bangladesh, was not entirely expected. Afghanistan, India and Bangladesh had all taken advantage of Pakistan’s unpredictability, but also became its victims soon enough. That was not the case in the final. Three early wickets took Pakistan by surprise and after that, the batsmen took so much time in coming out of their shells that the team could set, what in the context of the conditions, turned out to be only a reasonable target. Despite having a reputed bowling attack, Pakistan was taught a valuable lesson by Sri Lanka: their bowling arsenal needs major improvement.

While Pakistan clearly missed Mohammad Irfan and were playing an out-of-form Umar Gul, Sri Lanka’s batting effort exposed what could potentially be an alarming future for Pakistan cricket. Too much reliance on ace spinner Saeed Ajmal and expecting Mohammad Hafeez and Shahid Afridi to provide regular breakthroughs, while also stemming the run flow is asking too much of them. The lack of wicket-taking bowlers cost the team dearly, which should be an eye-opener.

Perhaps, after two successful run-chases, it might have been wiser to field first and keep the momentum going. The positive news is the continued good form of Ahmed Shehzad, with the middle order also having acquired some solidity with the addition of Fawad Alam. There now seems to be a sense of purpose in the playing-eleven. What is now needed are capable replacements, especially in the form of a genuine fast bowler, as injury to one key bowler meant that the team kept searching for that fifth regular bowling option in all five games.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11^th, 2014.

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