Cricket: Pakistan suffers in the longer formats
In recent times Pakistan’s form in the longer forms of cricket has been poor to say the least. They may be considered number one in the world when it comes to T20 cricket even after failing to defend the World Cup title but whenever the over column is increased their performance meter decreases.
Test matches have been disastrous for Pakistan. With them winning only one out of their last eighteen encounters. The 50-over affairs haven’t been good either, with Pakistan losing a series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 in UAE before suffering a humiliating white wash at the hands of the Australians. The cherry on the cake came when they lost both their crucial matches in the Asia Cup to go down further in the rankings and in the eyes of their fans.
Talking about their losses would bear no fruits but finding out the problem might be helpful in forming a solution. For starters, their batting is either very aggressive or extremely defensive. It seems as if they have forgotten the art of rotating the strike. That is why they get away with the 20-over format where rotating the strike is the last resort. Umar Akmal is one of the brightes future prospects, who, actually looks to score at least a single off every delivery, which is the key to batting in one day matches. Pakistan should take a leaf out of Michael http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 series, without even scoring a single boundary. Surprisingly, his strike rate was better than 100 as well.
What Pakistani batsmen tend to do is to block out the power play overs in order to protect their wickets, then score as miserly as possible in the middle overs and blast it out during the last ten. This tactic may have worked in the 1999 World Cup but now, with specialized death bowlers, it is nearly impossible to hit it out in the end. Plus, if a few wickets fall early, there are not enough batsmen to capitalize on the last few overs.
The bowling department does a better job when it comes to playing the longer format but it is the thinking behind the skill which matters more. What teams tend do against Pakistan is to wait for the 15th over and then the real assault comes. The assault is not in the form of boundaries but a storm of singles and doubles that result in a risk free 7 an over run rate. That leaves enough batsmen to build on a brilliant platform. The spinners are not given an attacking field that results in a defensive bowling length. The fast bowlers cannot attack either, as Pakistan believes that after the field restrictions are lifted they have to send every fielder to the boundary.
Test cricket is a different story altogether as spending time on the crease is considered a crime in Pakistan these days. Even if the batsmen plan on doing so, they take the words literally and forget that it’s not the time, which the scorecard shows but the scores that they make. Trapped in this dilemma they either end up edging the ball to the keeper or trapping themselves in front of the stumps. They should be advised that cementing with authority is the way to go rather than just cementing themselves on the crease.
The bowlers are impressive in this format and no credit should be taken away from them but they have failed to close out matches of late. Tail-enders have scored way too many runs against the fine bowling attack. Plus, the fielding has badly let them down, dropping dollies, which would have defined matches for them.
With class batsmen such as, Inzimam, gone from the batting, Pakistan has only the shortest version of the game to save them from a possible disaster in their cricketing history. If things do not change soon, the Dark Age in the most famous sport in Pakistan can continue till its demise. We just hope that the rectification occurs sooner rather than later.
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