In Pakistan cricket’s darkest hour

KARACHI: Sixteen years. It was a good run, ladies and gentlemen. It was fun while it lasted. But, like all things good, it had to come to an end. And come to an end it did — in spectacular fashion, in historic fashion, in emphatic fashion, in humiliating fashion and more than anything else, in comprehensive fashion. A statement by Bangladesh in no uncertain terms after arguably their most successful World Cup campaign; they have arrived.

Pakistan blown away — whitewashed 3-0, outclassed in each match, never even coming close to threatening the home side’s supremacy. This is uncharted territory for both sides; Bangladesh’s greatest moment in cricket and Pakistan’s worst. The best of times and the worst of times, a team’s rise and another’s demise, the birth of a worthy rival and the death of a giant. But is it really that drastic?

Pakistan cricket’s darkest hour is not without cause. As is almost customary for the country after World Cup heartbreak, most of the side has been overhauled. Some have retired, some are injured, others have been dropped for poor performances and others still for poor behaviour. Some of the changes were inevitable, others were voluntary.

It has resulted in yet another period of transition for the men in green and such results are to be expected in periods of such change. Azhar Ali — having not donned the green in more than two years — suddenly found himself a leader of men. He performed admirably with the bat and led from the front, top-scoring in two of the three matches for Pakistan, but still has a lot to learn as captain — he will have to do on the job.

There were new faces — Saad Nasim, Muhammad Rizwan and Sami Aslam all made their debuts. There were those returning to the team after injuries and suspensions — Umar Gul, Muhammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal and Junaid Khan. There were those returning after being dropped from the side — Fawad Alam and Azhar. Those that remained — Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali and Haris Sohail — haven’t exactly been staples of the sides either. All of that conspired to produce a team full of timid individuals feeling their way into international cricket; a team given a harsh reality-check about the nature of cricket’s upper-most echelons — if Bangladesh, as improved as they have been, can be called that.

Pakistan’s bowlers, always their biggest weapons, were made to look like backyard cricketers as Bangladesh scored at more than six an over in all three matches. The bowlers were only able to take 11 wickets in the three matches at an average of 74.55 runs per wicket — more than triple Pakistan’s previous average of 21.19 against Bangladesh — and an economy of over 6.4 runs per over. Before the series Bangladeshi batsmen had scored three centuries against Pakistan in 32 matches, now they have more than doubled that tally with four more in three games. It was a professional and thorough dismantling of Pakistan’s greatest strength.

But what was even more worrying than the plethora of new problems was the way old demons refuse to be exorcised. The first match was lost due to fielding problems; Nasim and Junaid dropping sitters off Mushfiqur Rehman and Tamim Iqbal, both of whom went on to make centuries. A top-order collapse in the second match forced the lower-order to consolidate, and by the time they decided to come out of their shell, it was too little too late. In the third, it was role reversal as the top-order gave the side a good start, only for the lower-order to collapse — the side going from 203-2 to 250-10, losing eight wickets for 47 runs. A comprehensive list of Pakistan’s usual ails displayed over three games.

However, despite all the problems — new and old alike — the fans need to stick by the team. There is a young captain at the helm, looking to change a team set in out-dated ways and bringing it on par with the rest of the pack. There have been more injuries and suspensions to key personnel in the last year than can be counted on fingers.

For all the doom and gloom, the trio of debutants have emerged as promising future prospects. For all the talk of a shift of power, Pakistan’s record against Bangladesh still remains 31 wins to four losses. For everything else that went wrong, there was the return of Hafeez’s off-spin and the form of Azhar to name just two positives.

The loss must be seen as what it was — a defeat during the team’s most vulnerable period. It highlighted and underlined all the work that needs to be done but has no more repercussions than seeing Pakistan fall to eighth in the rankings.

Pakistan’s fans would do well to take a leaf out of Bangladesh’s — they have supported their team through several decades of pain, still filling out stadiums, still cheering every meaningless wicket and boundary as if it won them the World Cup, still making heroes out of their players in defeat.

Pakistan cricket is going through a very delicate phase — the fans, more than ever before, need to stand by the players’ side. These are difficult times and more testing ones may yet come ahead; the players can ill-afford being forsaken by those who cheer them on.

 

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