‘Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results’.
Perhaps in his great wisdom, Einstein was talking about Pakistan cricket’s aversion to strategizing cricket. Pakistan lost to India for the 11th time in World Cup competitions yesterday. Although the script is becoming increasingly similar with regards to the level of competition put up by the losers, the level of ineptitude in planning and inculcating a culture of organized thought process seems to be deteriorating with each fixture.
After Pakistan won its first game against Bangladesh, as it often is for winning teams, all weaknesses seemed gone, all bases seemed covered. In a previous article, I had highlighted the selection comedies that PCB had already enacted for the WT20. Those issues came back to haunt them. Not selecting a front line spinner; selecting five pacers; batting selections based on a single innings. As it often does against much stronger oppositions or in high pressure games.
So yes, after the big win in the first game, a good thought out plan was not needed. No. India had lost the previous match, and humiliatingly so. The famed batting line-up had crumbled on a spinning wicket for 79, chasing 127. Pakistan had just beat Bangladesh comprehensively after 4 failed attempts in limited overs cricket. It was being reiterated in all circles that Pakistan is in a positive frame of mind. Yes. All pressure is on India. It’s a home crowd. India will be under pressure, aware of the fact that on losing they would be knocked out (no idea how where this impression originated from, but it appears most cricketers are seriously poor at basic probability). Pakistan has nothing to lose. India has everything to lose. Yes, Pakistan is in a positive frame of mind. Also, the world cup winner Imran Khan is coming in to give a motivational speech. This will really boost the ‘jazba’ of the boys.
Coach Waqar Younis talked up his battery of fast bowlers in the press conference preceding the match. This apparent state of euphoria resulted in Pakistan selecting four pacers on a rain-affected raging turner. Quite how the combined bowling experience of Shahid Afridi, Waqar Younis, Azhar Mehmood and Intikhab Alam can conspire to display such ineptitude in reading a pitch is a disturbing situation. Granted they felt having fast bowlers would give them the edge. Yet how exactly they felt this pitch was so overwhelmingly in support of fast bowling as to include 16 overs of pace, leaving out all trace of variety in the spin department, is even more worrying and should set all alarm bells ringing in the Pakistani cricket set up.
Pakistan batted first. By the first Nehra over, it was evident that the pitch was sluggish and slow. By the end of the 2nd over which was bowled by Ashwin, the opening batsmen seemed gripped by the true horror of Pakistan’s mistake. One can understand Pakistan being wary of Hafeez’s tendency to freeze in big moments, but Sarfaraz Ahmed, an innovative batsman and Pakistan’s best player of spin not featuring for a majority of the innings was almost criminal. The batsmen were frozen against spin. There was no concerted effort to change the angles, use some nifty footwork or even sweep to counter the turn; something that has been a hall mark of great Pakistani players of spin like Miandad, Inzimam, Muhammad Yousuf and Younis Khan. That Pakistan managed to score even 117 in 18 overs was largely due to Dhoni’s benevolence of not using Ashwin’s full quota, not using Raina after a solitary wicket taking over, and not using Yuvraj at all.
In reply, Pakistani bowlers, those everlasting bringers of joy, were disappointing. It seems unfair at times on the bowlers, but it seems with the batting that they possess, they are destined to never be afforded the luxury of a slightly off day.
As much as Pakistani pacers feel naturally inclined to bowl fast, this was the one pitch on which it was necessary to resist. Stuck with 4 pacers on a dream wicket for spinners, there was hardly any use of the cutters or slower deliveries to use whatever assistance the pitch had to give. Among the few that they did bowl got them two wickets. Rohit Sharma and Yuvraj Singh were both out to deliveries that were slightly slower in pace. The team management’s failure to use the meagre spin resources in the squad itself (Imad and Nawaz) was looking increasingly ludicrous. The few deliveries Afridi was able to land on a good length or short of a good length gripped the pitch and spun. Mostly though, Afridi was too full and too quick. With Shoaib Malik rarely being used as reliable bowling option in the past few years, relying on his spin was never going to work.
The captain, it must be said, was terribly unimaginative in his field set ups and team bowling plans. Vital opportunities were missed as Afridi bowling round the wicket had no short-leg with the ball spinning in and spinning big. Yuvraj inside-edged one straight in the direction where square leg would have been. A couple of overs later, Yuvraj Singh outside edged Shoaib Malik straight to where first slip would, and should have been. Singles were already easily available. There was nothing to salvage after that really. Although perhaps it is worth mentioning that Pakistan’s most successful bowler in this match (Muhammad Sami) didn’t bowl more than 2 overs.
Pakistan’s most experienced past and current resources have utterly failed to convince they bring any sort of cricketing acumen to the table, and has for long become a serious cause for concern. It seems now, that that absence is clear to the cricketers in the team too. The video of Umar Akmal requesting Imran Khan to convince the team management to send him at number 3 encapsulates that lack of trust.
Also, it’s worth noting that the one statistic that Pakistan team management did publicly take a note of was that they had never lost a game in Kolkata. Yes, the only statistic worth of note for this big game was a stat rooted in superstition, that the idea of Pakistan not losing in Kolkata so far was a good omen. Perhaps nothing explains the state of the team better.
Pakistan’s cricket team captain Shahid Afridi during a training session at Punjab Cricket Association Cricket Stadium in Mohali on March 21, 2016. / AFP / MONEY SHARMA (Photo credit should read MONEY SHARMA/AFP/Getty Images)
