The continuous political interference is ruining Pakistan cricket. I know I might create a controversy but we lost the T20 World Cup a year ago. These are T20 cricketers, who have the mindset of playing in that way. Barring Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, none of the players knows how to play ODI cricket.
In the past twelve months, we have seen three different persons heading the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). We have seen Ramiz Raja, then Najam Sethi, and now Zaka Ashraf is at the helm. And not to forget in the same timeline, we have had five selectors as well. Mohammad Wasim, Micky Arthur, Shahid AfridiHaroon Rasheed, and now Inzamam-ul-Haq.
The selectors should also be blamed because there was no vision. Saud Shakeel, Abdullah Shafiqe and Hasan Ali were not in contention a year ago, and suddenly they are in the ODI World Cup. Saud and Abdullah had never played a high-intensity game, and you cannot blame them. Fakhar Zaman was our main player for the past three years and all of a sudden he was dropped. I agree that he was not in good form, but in my opinion, he should have batted at No 4 to face Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.
Fakhar is the only guy who can play the counterattacking shots but he was warming the bench. Pakistan’s current ODI template is old. They want to follow the old ODI template of saving wickets till 40 overs and then target the last ten. The game has changed; we are still stuck in the past. This team is not playing modern-day cricket. We don’t have specialists; there is no X factor in the playing XI. There is a lack of merit in selection as well.
I can go on and on. I don’t know if Shaheen Afridi is injured, but he looked fatigued. Haris Rauf will have to learn how to hit the good lengths consistently. In the T20Is, the four-over spell can make you a superstar by firing all the cylinders in 24 balls. But in the ODIs and Test cricket, you need that mental toughness that was lacking in Ahmedabad. Shadab Khan’s spells against the minor teams are exceptional but when it comes to the top five side, he struggles. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharmaif Buttler, Glenn Maxwelland David Miller face the likes of Kuldeep Yadav, Rashid Khan and Tabraiz Shamsi in the nets; they will pick Shadab with their eyes shut.
The appointment of our medical staff are also questionable. Naseem Shah was complaining about his shoulder from the Afghanistan series, he carried that niggle in the Asia Cup and now he is injured. We rushed Shaheen last year during the T20 World Cup and he collapsed in the final. The injuries of Muhammad Hasnain and Ihsanullah were also not taken seriously.
Wo patti baandh ke khelna wala jamana gaya (Gone are those days when players used to play with the bandages). Anil Kumble was an exception. Nowadays, if you are 80 per cent fit, that player should not play and must get replaced.
Coming back to the India game, the way two of our senior batsmen [Babar and Rizwan] played Kuldeep and Jadeja was also bizarre. They were not able to read Kuldeep and all of a sudden, they started playing sweep shots. Sweep shots are not for the Asian cricketers. Players from England and South Africa used to play sweep when they didn’t pick Abdul Qadir or Shane Warne.
Look at the way Shreyas Iyer and Rohit Sharma play spin. Khuda ke liye (For god sake) use your feet, you have got two. One hit down the ground, Kuldeep and Jadeja would have easily given them five singles in one over. But instead, we were trying to sweep against them. There were two close calls as well.
Call me old school but in my opinion those batters who just sweep against spin in are cowards. They are playing sweep shots because they are scared of the bowlers. Against Kuldeep, we looked timid, we were trying to just play out his ten overs. Not a single Pakistan batsman was able to pick Kuldeep, and I think if he is not rested in a few matches, Kuldeep will end up being the leading wicket-taker of the tournament.
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I was surprised that India didn’t pick Ashwin. I feel he should play all the matches for India. If Ashwin had played I don’t think we could have even got 190 on the board.
I can go on and on about what went wrong on Saturday but one should count Pakistan out at their own peril. The batting collapse was a classic Pakistan but I still won’t be surprised if they go all the way. Having said that, you can’t deny the fact that we need a robust administration if we want to be a good team. The constant chopping and changes at the top will take our cricket nowhere.
Rashid Latif is a former Pakistan captain; he spoke to Pratyush Raj.
