Pakistan’s turbulent, weak cricket team
It is always fascinating to see the changes that are made in the Pakistan cricket team by the team management, coaches and all those people at the helm of affairs who consider it their birth right to change and chop the squad. Critics have gone on to suggest that the country’s cricket team is just as chaotic and inconsistent as the country’s governing institutions.
For instance, just to site a few examples in this tour of England, the test captain was abruptly changed from Shahid Afridi to Salman Butt. Wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal was dropped and Zulqarnain Haider was given a short tour to England as his replacement. Afterwards, Zulqarnain was not only dropped because of his mysterious ‘finger injury’ but was also sent back to Pakistan, despite his sensational knock of 88 which saved Pakistan from an inning’s defeat against England. In addition, to everyone’s surprise, Mohammad Yousuf was miraculously brought back to the side by the same man who had banned him for life.
Interestingly enough, all of this took place prior to the spot-fixing scandal and the provisional suspension of Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif.
To make matters worse, the team squad for the test matches against England was nothing but inexperience where the team was full of young players that were either making their debuts or playing their first few matches. One cannot expect the new comers of first-class cricket to excel in their international cricket immediately. There is always an adjustment period required. Some of these players include Umar Amin, Azhar Ali, Shahzaib Hasan and Wahab Riaz.
There should always be a balanced mix of youth and experience in a cricket team. Unfortunately, Pakistan’s side was always skewed towards inexperience which cost them the test series against England this year.
On the contrary, aging players like Abdur Razzaq and Shoaib Akhtar, and out of form player Shoaib Malik were given another chance. It is understandable that after the provisional ban of Asif, Aamer and Salman, the team selectors were left with no choice but to include these players, as the bowling line-up was with a shadow of a doubt - weak.
However, these inclusions have proved to be very costly for Pakistan as both Abdur Razzaq and Shoaib Akhtar have been poor performers as bowlers and as fielders. Shoaib was known for his speed, sadly he has lost it and without his speed, his balling is less than ordinary. Abdur Razzaq’s bowling has been no exception either as he has proved to be a very expensive bowler who has been hit around the park on numerous occasions on this tour. These players have lived their days of glory and based on their current mediocre performances, they should be shown the door.
Mohammad Irfan, who was the most-hyped about player to have entered the Pakistan side due to his extra-ordinary height and so-called fast bowling, failed to produce any positive results and also managed to drop a dolly catch of Andrew Strauss. He was later lashed by Shahid Afridi, where Afridi also insinuated that he might not include him in the rest of the one-day matches against England.
There has also been inconsistency in terms of the batting order of Pakistan, for instance, Mohammad Yousuf’s position is always oscillating between one-down, two-down or middle-order, therefore affecting his performance as he has to adjust to the new position every time. Come to think of it, most of the players have been juggled around in the batting line-up.
Shahid Afridi pushed himself and Abdur Razzaq down the order in the first T20 match against England which turned out to be a complete fiasco. It was an inane decision on his part as both the players did not get their turn to bat, especially when they were desperately needed at the crease for their hard-hitting.
Fawad Alam and Shahzaib Hasan are not known as big hitters, despite that fact they somehow managed to find their place in the T20 squad. Fawad Alam literally cost Pakistan the first T20 match against England as he ate up the middle crucial overs where the batsmen were expected to hit huge shots to increase the scoring rate. He was struggling to connect the bat with the ball.
Despite the misfortunes surrounding Pakistan cricket at the moment, there have been a few good players that have proved their mettle despite the pressures on and off the field, these include newcomers like Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali. One can only hope that more of such emerging and promising talent comes out of this rather messy cricket line-up.
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