Pakistan cricket needs to regenerate itself
With three matches lost on the trot, the debacle, the rout and the humiliation was only too obvious. The annihilation was indeed complete. Pakistan tried to make a fist of it in the opening game of this last Champions Trophy – an event that it has never won – against the West Indies, but only because the bowling came to the fore in trying to defend an un-defendable total. In the other two games, the batting continued to be way, way below par – indeed a shame for a frontline cricketing nation. And the bowlers simply were left with no nerve for a fight. Three sub-200 totals – 170, 167 and 165 the sorry figures they could muster – reflect the measure of batting failure. The top order getting out in a jiffy in all three games, with only Nasir Jamshed playing somewhat to his potential in the first two and the middle order sans skipper Misbah-ul-Haq not doing much to redeem itself either, it was really an ordeal to watch the green shirts in the middle. Coach Dav Whatmore tried to put some gloss over the signal failure: “It is almost the same team that beat India in India… One series doesn’t make the team a bad team. It’s a trend [the batting failure] in this series only.” Whatmore though is being economical with truth. Pakistan has been bowled out in eight of their last 13 games, and has lost the ODI rubbers against England, Sri Lanka, Australia and South Africa before this most recent dismal show, with only the last-ball win against Bangladesh that landed it the Asia Cup in between the only remarkable performance.
These performances make now obvious that Pakistan cricket has to revamp. In its year and three quarters, the Zaka Ashraf dispensation seemed to have come to grips with the management of a Board renowned for its mismanagement. But after the disastrous three Ijaz Butt years, anybody would have looked good by comparison. Still the relative period of calm is now definitely over. The rumblings had commenced well before the change in government, but things have started to unravel since the PML-N’s takeover. Despite having neatly choreographed his appointment for a four-year term through a new, custom-made constitution that also found approval with the ICC only some days ago, Zaka Ashraf’s reign as chairman is effectively over. The problem though is not the chairman’s person, but the manner in which he is appointed and also the total power invested in him. This is an issue that needs to be resolved by the Pakistan government, the ICC (which has laid down the law: no government interference) and other stakeholders.
Pakistan’s recent performances clearly show that Pakistan cricket needs to regenerate itself. But the good thing is, in appropriate hands, it has the potential to bounce back quickly. The key question is, whether it shall be fortunate enough to get the right hands at the helm?
