The mother of all shockers before the mother of all games

KARACHI: The last ODI before the World Cup has cracked open a can of worms for Pakistan. Facing issues like a lack of balance in the playing eleven is one thing, but the stubborn refusal of even attempting to fix the issues is an extremely frustrating approach by the team’s think-tank.

The 119-run hammering in Napier is not the first one-sided defeat Pakistan have suffered in their history, and rest assured, it won’t be the last one either, but the failure to improvise the tactics for the game is set to cause great angst for all concerned.

Head coach Waqar Younis, captain Misbahul Haq and chief selector Moin Khan all have an incredible amount of experience of international cricket. Waqar and Moin in particular remain vital cogs of some of the most successful Pakistan teams in history, who used to thrive with an aggressive, never-say-die attitude.

But the two along with Misbah have become incessantly rigid in their approach and just days before the World Cup, they collectively failed to realise that a lack of a fifth bowler is causing severe damage to the team’s chances of a win. The trio is adamant on shoring up the batting department by the inclusion of an extra batsman and that tactic is producing scant rewards.

After sacrificing the bowler, Pakistan should be prepared to hunt down big scores, but despite a century-plus opening stand, the visitors were not even in contention of a win around the mid-way point during their fractured innings in Napier, which further accentuates their woes.

Waqar and Misbah delivered another shocker when they sent Younus ahead of Umar Akmal, Haris Sohail and Sarfraz Ahmed. After a solid start, Pakistan needed to sustain the momentum and even accelerate further through a potentially game-changing batsman, but the think-tank remained listless.

Misbah followed Younus to the batting crease as Akmal, Sohail and Sarfraz were all denied the opportunity of a fair crack at the target with some overs in hand.

Perhaps the team management is under the impression that the batting scorecard shared with the broadcasters at the start of the game is supposed to be followed in letter and spirit!

If the reasons above aren’t enough to deflate the cricket die-hard, then a comparison on the choice of playing elevens is surely going to cast further gloom. New Zealand made three changes to the side that triumphed so comfortably in Wellington and despite repeated pleas, the Pakistan management chose to field the first ODI’s eleven.

Due to the all-round inflexibility that engulfs Pakistan cricket at the moment, Sohaib Maqsood, Sohail Khan and Yasir Shah were denied the opportunity of plying their trades under pressure situation in New Zealand conditions before the World Cup, since the fear of failure in Napier threw a spanner in the preparations.

The men in green are scheduled to play no less than three tournament games including ties against South Africa and West Indies in the country, and before these crucial games, the depth of the squad remains untested in New Zealand.

Unfortunately, the endeavours of the PCB in arranging a pre-World Cup tour of New Zealand failed to deliver the desired results for Pakistan.

The defeats in the warm-ups and the whitewash suffered against the hosts in the ODIs is only going to dent the confidence ahead of the mother of all games against India.

Surely the Napier harrowing is the mother of all shockers 10 days ahead of arguably the biggest pool match of the tournament, when a mere one billion eyes will converge for action at the Adelaide Oval.

 

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