The arrival of the World T20 has added a fresh chapter to the long and thriving list of comic tragedies which the Pakistan Cricket Board has been involved in. Here’s a timeline review of the goof-ups that have transpired in the last 30 days.
10th February 2016 – To meet ICC deadlines, the PCB announced its squad for the Asia Cup and World T20 a week into the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Keeping in mind that the World Cup was right after the Asia Cup, it made sense to select the same squad for both tournaments to be able to test the whole squad and assess their strengths to arrive at a perfect playing XI. Sadly, that’s where the sense ended.
The squad selected was this: Afridi (captain), Hafeez, Malik, U Akmal, Sarfaraz, Babar Azam, Iftikhar, Imad Wasim, Anwar Ali, Irfan, Wahab, Amir, Nawaz, K Manzoor, and Rumman Raees.
Frustrated with Ahmed Shehzad, the Selection Committee decided to drop him. The problem? Finding a half-decent opener who could take his place. Various names were being thrown up for discussion. There was Sharjeel Khan, a good prospect but someone who hadn’t done much to impress on the international stage. There were even talks of bringing back Kamran Akmal. Nauman Anwar, probably the best option, was another prospect who had performed really well in the last domestic T20 tournament but hadn’t got the big break.
Yet they selected Khurram Manzoor, who was yet to play for Pakistan in this format and hadn’t played a T20 of any kind for two years. He was selected based on his List A performances against the England Lions.
Another star performer in the last domestic T20 was Iftikhar Ahmed. Yet he wasn’t tried in any of the T20s Pakistan played in the following months, and instead played in ODIs against England before he was dropped. Despite failing in the PSL, he also found a spot in the squad.
In the last three years, Hafeez has been a T20 pedestrian with hardly any performance of note. Since July 2013, in 32 matches, he has averaged 18.3 at a strike rate of barely over 100. Without his bowling, there is no case for Hafeez to be in the team and yet he too found a place in Pakistan’s squad. The PCB reiterated that seniority rules.
Keeping in mind that the World T20 is being held in India, you’d think a specialist spinner might help. Instead, they selected three spinning all-rounders (Afridi, Imad and Nawaz) but no specialist spinner. This selection was not for a lack of choice. There were many who caught the eye in PSL – Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Asghar and Usama Mir come to mind. Moreover, Imad Wasim was not given a single game in the Asia Cup, and Nawaz played only two.
However, what’s more impressive is that a battery of five pacers were taken to spin-friendly India. And to think these are only the issues that came up in the original squad selection. The real comedy started after the initial squad was announced.
21st February — As the PSL carried on, Sharjeel hit a 100 in a virtual semi-final and Sami delivered some sensational spells to get the selectors thinking. Khalid Latif also impressed with the bat, while Iftikhar failed and Rumman Raees failed to give a great show with the ball.
22nd February — Two injuries followed to Babar Azam (a promising young batsman) and Raees.
23nd February – Babar and Raees were replaced by Sharjeel and Sami; it seemed the selectors couldn’t wait to make replacements and gave them no time to recover. There were rumours that the injuries were minor and could easily have healed in time. To make matters more complicated, Iftikhar was dropped for the World Cup without being given a chance, and replaced by Khalid Latif.
The bigger comedy? Iftikhar was still part of the Asia Cup, which meant whatever he wouldn’t have matteredand Khalid Latif would go into the main tournament completely untested. The only way Afridi managed to avoid this potential selection disaster from fully materializing was by not playing Iftikhar in any Asia Cup game at all; except the last game against Sri Lanka, where he didn’t get to bat.
2nd March — While Pakistan were playing against Bangladesh, news emerged that Ahmed Shehzad had been asked to submit his passport to the PCB for processing. Everyone knew this was a replacement call for Khurram Manzoor. Imagine the effect finding out about being dropped mid-match could have on a player.
4th March — As expected, the Asia Cup exposed many of the issues that were staring the team in the face. Khurram Manzoor’s selection was a disastrous failure. Hafeez’s form in T20s worsened. Sharjeel showed the problems he had in his earlier selections still persist, and how short-sighted it was to select someone based on a single innings. Sami yet again cost Pakistan an important game and the tournament itself, as Pakistan crashed out of the tournament following his shambolic 15-run over defending 18 off 12.
5th March — It emerged the next day that the selectors were considering Ahmed Shehzad, Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal and Zulfiqar Babar for selection.
Out of these four, only Shehzad and Zulfiqar looked like somewhat sensible decisions as they both had a decent time in the PSL and it seemed the selectors had finally woken up to the need of a specialist spinner. Salman Butt last played a T20 in 2010, and was being seriously considered for selection. The head coach, Waqar Younis, wanted him in the squad and Shahid Afridi, the captain, was vehemently against it.
Butt has never been regarded as a viable T20 batsman. In 24 T20 internationals, he averages 28 with a strike rate of 107. His three half-centuries have come against Canada, Bangladesh, and a 67* against the Kiwis in a chase of 133 which Pakistan still lost. Hardly T20 material. The stupidity of his inclusion would have even outranked the selection of Khurram Manzoor.
The mind also boggles at the reconsideration of Kamran Akmal. Quite how his name keeps returning to the national side on the eve of World Cups is beyond imagination. He failed to impress in the PSL and looked out of sorts against both pace and spin, scoring 151 runs in ten matches. Yet here was: a contender for WT20 selection.
7th March – The PCB officially replaced Khurram Manzoor with Ahmed Shehzad. What face have they left to save after re-selecting Ahmed Shehzad roughly a month after they dropped him; someone they didn’t think good enough in the first place to represent Pakistan in these marquee tournaments?
There was still no place for a specialist spinner in the squad. Among all these changes and after 31 runs in four Asia Cup games, an average performance in the PSL and his being in a state of constant decline since the last three years, Hafeez is still part of the team.
From the captain to the coach to the whole PCB setup, everyone seems to be bemoaning the lack of talent and performance in Pakistani cricket. They are in complete disconnect with the cause and effect of the deepening malaise in the country and are again side-stepping the severe need to diagnose the real issue. The selection committees are time and again selecting the wrong people in the squad and their decision-making and analytical skills have got so bad that they no longer warrant a sensible for and against argument. The board have become a national laughing stock.
To add to the problem, the team management is even failing to extract the best out of the selected squad with unbalanced playing XIs and employing the wrong combinations. When you pick players who do not deserve a spot, their performances show lack of confidence and insecurity, which ultimately rubs off on the whole team.
The PCB has set up an inquiry committee to investigate the performance of the team in the Asia Cup, just before the World T20, while the President is busy revealing his private commitments with the captain, Shahid Afridi. The men in charge have done all they can to ensure the team leadership, including Afridi, is completely demoralized, and that the team is in the worst possible state before a global tournament.
Once again Pakistan has headed into a major tournament unaware of its best XI, its best batsmen, or the best combinations. What is sad is that it was all very predictable.
