A demoralising defeat

What Pakistan require is for Misbah to return to form & for batting line-up to stop completely freezing under pressure

It seems that the Pakistan cricket team, of late, has completely forgotten how to win matches, even those that do not require major heroics. While Australia started out as clear favourites at the start of the just concluded One-Day International (ODI) series in the UAE, the fact that the national team was whitewashed 3-0, is distressing to say the least, with the World Cup just around the corner. The highly demoralising defeat in the last ODI, by a single run, points to the real malaise that afflicts Pakistan: a highly brittle, low on confidence, unsettled batting line-up and an inability to handle pressure. While Pakistan’s bowlers did a commendable job throughout the series, considering that they were without two frontline players in Saeed Ajmal and Junaid Khan, it was the batting that let the fans down again.

Even after reasonable starts provided by the openers, the middle order failed to put up any significant resistance against a high-class bowling attack. The lack of meaningful partnerships and the inability to close out matches was the most disappointing factor. It seems that Pakistan have developed a mental block that is preventing them from chasing down even below-par scores. More worryingly, Misbahul Haq sitting out the final match of the series has given rise to all kinds of rumours regarding his continuation as captain of the ODI team. Though the PCB chief later said that Misbah himself decided to sit out the match because of recent low scores, to do so in the middle of a series would appear unusual.

With Pakistan having lost five of their last six ODIs, any thoughts of glory at the World Cup in Australia in a few months’ time seem far-fetched at this point. While the performances of some of the newer members of the side are encouraging, they are clearly not enough. What Pakistan require urgently is for the captain to return to form and for the batting line-up to stop completely freezing under pressure. Without this, the future of the team indeed looks bleak.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2014.

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