A win at last

Inability of Pakistan to find the right combination half-way through group stage should be enough of a reality check

Pakistan scraped to their first victory in the ICC World Cup 2015, registering a tense 20-run win over Zimbabwe to keep hopes alive of making it to the quarter-final of cricket’s most prestigious event. After the all too familiar batting failures and fielding lapses in the first two matches, the script was more or less the same before individual brilliance of the bowlers stole the show. While the win has generated a glimmer of hope among the fans, the narrow margin of the victory, along with the continued failure of the top order, sloppy fielding, dropped catches and a general inability to find the right combination half-way through the group stage should be enough of a reality check. Pakistan’s opening stand has put on a grand total of 12 runs off 34 deliveries in three matches and the entire team has failed to bat out 50 overs in two of the three games. If it was not for Wahab Riaz — a specialist bowler — Pakistan might just have kept this unwanted record intact.

Here’s a stat: Pakistan have lost 17 off their last 31 games where they have had to defend a total of 250 or less. While the world shows off its batting prowess — in the form of Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers — Pakistan continue to bank on bowlers already marginalised by the changing landscape of limited-overs cricket. Admittedly, a void has been created with the absence of some frontline players from the World Cup squad, but one cannot rationalise filling this void through the inclusion of players like Nasir Jamshed in the playing-eleven. The left-hander presents the picture of a lost soul on the field, with dropped catches only complementing his failure with the bat. In addition, the reason behind keeping Sarfraz Ahmed on the sidelines remains a mystery with Umar Akmal’s show as make-shift wicket-keeper leaving much to be desired. There is hope yet that Pakistan would be able to reach the knockout stage, but for it to materialise, the team management needs to find the right playing-eleven quickly.

Published in The Express Tribune, March  3^rd,  2015.

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