The disillusioned Pakistan Cricket Team
The disappointment that the Pakistani cricket team is seems to have a nag of out doing their worst performances every so often as they never fail to disappoint their fans and critics, mostly at stages when the trust factor seems to be getting back in their favour.
One would have thought that after the disappointing tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758, the Pakistani’s would have learned their lessons and would be able to put up a mature act on their crucial tour of England.
They certainly started off on a positive footing as they won their two opening T20 games against the Australian’s. However, what followed in the Test matches just goes to show that like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 too cannot play test cricket and might as well stop trying.
The kings of the 3 hour edition looked like a back alley team in the 5 day format. The Pakistani’s who supposedly are in their World Cup preparation mode just could not come to terms with the longer format of the game which requires them to be patient, a trait that the Pakistani’s do not seem to be well acquainted with.
The biggest disappointment of them all was their immature and childish captain, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 who just did not seem bothered about the fact that his team was in a critical position and needed a test innings as opposed to the T20 cameo that he played in both his outings of the match.
If nothing else he should have taken a lesson from his deputy, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Salman-c88163 Butt who continued playing a stabilizing role despite wickets falling like 9 pins on his opposite end.
However looking at the brighter side of things all the positive talk which was being associated to Afridi and the gamble which was his captaincy are now history and thus Pakistan cricket can actually look for a stable leadership.
The only mature decision that Afridi has taken in the past couple of days has been to step away from test matches once again as it was Afridi and his lack of leadership which led Pakistan to a150 runs defeat in the first test.
The Pakistanis who won the toss and elected to field first in the test match looked quite confident at the start as their bowlers were up to the mark and reflected the same discipline and consistency which helped Pakistan win their T-20’s.
However when it came to the batting performance, it seemed that the Pakistani batsmen and especially their captain Shahid Afridi were still in their 3 hour game mode as opposed to the mindset of a 5 day game. Thus, what the bowlers set up through professional bowling was completely destroyed by the batsmen.
Every batsman except Salman Butt, seemed to be in a hurry and got bowled out due to their nag of constantly wanting to hit the ball.
Thus the state of affairs now are such that the entire balance of the team has gone into the hands of Salman Butt, who at the moment seems to be the only person in the Pakistan Cricket team who knows what Test Cricket is all about.
Butt, who is the most consistent Pakistani batsmen in all three formats of the game, has been handed over the mandate to lead the green team in the longer format of the game, with immediate effect as Afridi will not be playing the second test that starts at Leeds from the 21st of July. Thus, this makes Butt the 5th test captain for Pakistan in one and a half year.
Salman’s first challenge will be to get this Pakistani outfit into the Test playing frame of mind as the batsmen need to learn to be patient.
There is also talk amongst the Pakistani think tank to have the experience of Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf brought back into the team as it is seriously lacking the experience of its mature players.
With all that said, uncertainty continues to prevail in the team as the next test is due to start on the 21st of July.
Pakistan therefore only have two days to recompose and rethink their playing eleven strategy as they once again start operation clean up in order to safeguard their pride and ensure that the embarrassment stops right here.
On the plus side for Pakistan, their new captain Salman Butt is in great batting touch. The fielding seems to be in sync and the bowlers under the leadership of the young and upcoming legend Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif have been up to the task throughout the tour so far.
Mohammad Asif has even managed to improve his overall test bowling ranking in the ICC Player Rankings for Test bowlers after taking 6 wickets in the first test. He has moved ahead of Mitchell Johnson and now stands at number 2 on the table, which is his highest ranking till date.
Even star pacer Umar Gul finds himself in the top 20 test bowlers where as in the batting table no Pakistani batsmen has been able to find a spot.
Thus batting at the moment seems to be the one big problem in the Pakistani camp. However with the problem being identified, what needs to be seen is whether the Pakistani players learn and mend their ways in the upcoming encounter or whether they continue on the same path of ruin.
Tags: