There is Still Time

There is only one word that can accurately describe Pakistan's performance in One Day cricket over the past 1 year. DISASTROUS.


A quick look at the table below will amply prove this point:

Tournament
W / L (Comment)

Singer Sharjah
2 / 3 Lost Final to Sri Lanka

India Independence Cup
2 / 3 Smashed in Finals by SL

Sahara Cup
1 / 4 Mauled by India

Asia Cup
1 / 1 Didn't qualify for final

Wills Independence Cup
1 / 3 Missed final in own tournament

Champions Trophy
1 / 2 Missed Final

Silver Jubilee Cup
2 / 3 Lost 3 times to India

Zimbabwe Tour
2 / 0 Victory against the minnows

Standard Bank Series
2 / 5 Outclassed by South Africa

Summary: WON 14, LOST 24; Have not won 1 tournament in last 8

Although I have not done the research, but I can confidently say that such a performance would rank us below every single test playing side except Zimbabwe and New Zealand, and we would not be far above those two teams. How the might have fallen! Players often complain that they cannot be expected to win every tournament, that often in one-day cricket it's just a matter of who is playing better that day. Well, looking at the above table you would have to say that Pakistan have been the better team on only 14 of the last 38 days they played One Day cricket, and remember that some of those days they played teams like Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that this in not a "bad patch". It is not something that is just in the "normal course of events". This is something that needs to be corrected, if total humiliation is to be avoided. I will not dwell at the causes of this quite sudden and almost absolute decline. What I will do here is provide a roadmap to recovery.

As I mentioned before, the decline has been almost absolute. That means that every department of the game needs to be worked on, Captaincy, Batting, Bowling, Fielding and what I call the Intangibles. Let's tackle these one by one.

Captaincy
The choice here is simple. If you want retain to Rashid as captain, then there is no room for Moin. Once that fact is accepted, we can move on. If however you decide to go this route, than effort must be made to restore Rashid's confidence in his batting. Let's not forget that when he started out his test career in England in 1992 he was seen not only as a better keeper but also a better batsmen than Moin, in fact he had a fifty on debut. During his tenure as captain he has somehow accepted this idea that he is not a capable batsmen. His decisions to send players like Hussain and Razzak and sometimes, even Akram above himself is just a manifestation of this lack of confidence.

My preference though is to play Moin as keeper and restore the balance in the side. I have tremendous respect for Rashid but Moin is probably a better one-day option. That leaves us with the question of who should captain the side. The obvious choice for many is Aamer Sohail, the victory at Durban was a big feather in his cap and I would expect that he would be the next choice. He has matured since his "Bangalore" days and I think would not be a bad option. Barring that, the PCB will have to eat "humble pie" and recall Wasim Akram or take a risk and reappoint Moin who has only had a short stint as national team skipper. My vote though, goes to Sohail. The important thing though is continuity, whoever is appointed captain must be done so for an extended period of time, any change of leadership between now and the world cup would be a serious folly. Hence it is important to appoint someone who is capable of maintaining his place in the side and who can command the respect of the team.

Batting
A major overhaul is needed here. Quite frankly, it has been needed for quite sometime, but for one reason or another it has simply not happened. Let us just take the top 5 batting positions. Saeed Anwar remains the only choice for #1. Aamer would be his logical opening partner, however if he is thrust with the responsibility of captaincy it might make better sense for him to go down the order. The only other choice for me is Mohd. Wasim. I have said for quite some time that he has the technique and the temperament, he may even have come off in the SBI final except for a brilliant piece of fielding by Rhodes. Ijaz needs a break. His technique is too faulty and quality sides like South Africa will make him pay every time, I was expecting a lot from him in South Africa, especially since he normally does well in Australia where the wickets area also bouncy, but his inconsistency was just amazing. I cannot understand how a batsmen can look so dominating one day and so mediocre the next. Inzamam clearly needs to stay, but not at the current weight. I know much has been written about this, but obviously nothing is being done. He is too good a talent to be wasted this way. The PCB must be proactive, they should sign him up with a weight loss program in the US or England, bear all the expenses and simply give him an ultimatum, lose 20 Kg or forget playing international cricket. It may sound to harsh but he is the rock that Pakistan's batting must be built on and he cannot be allowed to waste away this way. This is not simply of question of today's performance, maybe the weight loss will not make a difference in his ability to score runs presently, although I think it will. But more importantly it will increase his useful life in the game. At his current weight there is no way his body can sustain for a long period of time. Already, his knees have become a problem, at this rate, if nothing is done he will probably be gone in his early 30's and that would be a crying shame. I think he must be given the summer off, when some meaningless tournaments will be played, and he must be told to enroll in a weight loss program.

Yousuf Youhana is clearly the choice at number 5. He had a decent tour, and appears to have the right temperament. So it would appear that we have 5 batsmen for 5 positions, however reserves are clearly needed especially if Inzamam continues to be injury prone. The fact of the matter is that there really aren't any top class, young replacements around. The reason for this is that while Pakistani batsmen have all the shots in the world they do not have the right technique to play the seaming ball and most of them have not idea how to plan an innings, i.e. they lack the right temperament. The two biggest problems that Pakistani batsmen have is a weakness outside off-stump, caused by a lack of foot movement and a tendency to play across the line. International bowlers have learnt to exploit these weaknesses to the fullest. How many times have we seen the familiar sight of a Pakistani batsmen walking across his stumps to turn a straight ball on the leg side, only to be beaten by the slightest of movement and be adjudged LBW or bowled. I think what needs to be done here is that 5 or 6 young players need to be picked up and be put under the tutelage of someone like Geoff Boycott for a few weeks. Youngsters like Saleem Elahi, Shadab Kabir, Hasan Raza, Farhan Adil etc. all have the talent, they just need to round out their games a little, so as not to become easy prey at the international level. Once they have worked on the weaknesses in their games, they can be tried in some of the upcoming tournaments.

Finally a word about the all-rounders, Azhar Mehmood is an automatic and needs to be continued with. Shahid Afridi is a question mark. He has the talent, but his game has become one-dimensional and you cannot survive like that on the international circuit. I still think he is too explosive a talent to be left out of consideration, but his place is not at the top of the order. Since the word "pinch hitter" has come in from baseball, let me introduce another term that would suit Afridi's role in the team, "designated hitter". He should be sent in at any point in the innings when a boost to the run rate is required, that could be anywhere from #1 to #7, I know this is a tough situation to be in, but it suits his game. On the bowling front, he must develop more variety, teams are on to his "faster one" now and he must develop a few more weapons to become effective again. Maybe a few weeks with Abdul Qadir will help him. Abdur Razzak, and Mohd. Hussain are also useful one-day all rounders but both must also develop more variety in their bowling to become truly useful.

Bowling
Waqar should not bowl in the 1st 15 overs, that's if he is in the side at all. There, I've said it. I agree that you need to take early wickets to put pressure on the batting side. But Akram is better at playing that role. With the severe fielding restrictions, you cannot attack all out from both ends. Further, just by the fact that you concede 7, 8 or even 10 runs an over, you take the pressure of the batsmen and make it all the less likely that you will pick up a wicket. Aaqib is a much better option at partnering Wasim with the new ball. Basically you need someone who can bowl straight, just short of a length and move the ball both ways. You don't need express merchants like Shoaib or Waqar or Zahid, unless the conditions are very helpful. Look at the South Africans, they hardly ever open with Donald in ODI's, precisely for this reason.

A credible 6th bowling option is also necessary in today's game. Sohail and Malik filled that role well for Pakistan in the past and Sohail must regain confidence in his bowling in order to continue to do this. I think that a full strength Pakistan bowling attack would contain Akram, Aaqib, Saqlain, Azhar, with either Waqar, Mushtaq, Afridi (or others, see below) being the 5th bowler, depending upon conditions and upon the opposition, and Sohail providing the 6th option. In the event of an injury to Saqlain, another off-spinner must be available. Off-spinners are indispensable parts of today's one day game, because they are the spinners with the highest degree of control. Arshad Khan, Murtaza Hussain and Shoaib Malik are all viable options.

Now that we have a gone through the batting and bowling we pretty much have a team in place. To me, that team looks like: Anwar, Mohd. Wasim, Sohail (Capt.), Inzamam, Youhana, Moin, Azhar, Akram, Saqlain, Aaqib, (Waqar, Mushtaq, Afridi, Zahid, Akhtar, any of these can be the 5th bowling option).

Fielding & Intangibles
I think Pakistan are quite possibly the worst fielding side in the world. Again, in this department they need to get down to the basics. A foreign coach would help, but what is really needed is detailed drills. First each player should have one or two designated positions. From these positions they must practice diving, shying at the stumps etc. Simple things like standing at the ready position in the slips, running at the ball instead of running around it, throwing accurately on the bounce etc. must also be practiced.

The biggest intangible is strategy, again a decent coach would come in handy. But a side must tackle today's game with planning and preparation, where to bowl to which batsmen, which fielders to avoid taking a risk with, which end must be sacrificed in a run out situation, all these things can improve if you have proper planning.


As you can see a lot needs to be done. But if the PCB gets its act together today and starts working towards this, I think there is still a chance that we will do well at the world cup. Otherwise, my advise to all Pakistani fans would be to make sure you have some other plans for next summer, because there is every chance that Pakistan will not even make it past the first round.