By K Shahid
How many times have we heard/read this: “I’ve told the boys to go out and play their natural game”? This line, or variations thereof, has been used by all Pakistani captains since Imran Khan to mimic a non-strategy that basically says we’re going to with the instincts – like we always do.
Even so, what was once a menacing foreword for Waseem Akram’s unplayable swing, Saeed Anwar’s explosive wrists, Shoaib Akhtar’s yorkers or Inzamam-ul-Haq’s big-hitting, is now reduced to self-pitying rhetoric.
For when Sarfraz says the boys will play their ‘natural game’, in both Urdu and English press statements, what exactly is it supposed to mean?
What is the ‘natural game’ of the current lot that took to the field against India in one of the most one-sided Indo-Pak encounters in history?
That a batting lineup can feature Azhar Ali, Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammed Hafeez in the second most illustrious ODI tournament in the year 2017, will be looked back by sports historians as one of the great mysteries of this era.
Azhar Ali, who still manages to stand out as Pakistan’s best ODI batsman even though he can’t even find a slot for himself in his local franchise for the domestic super league, is not a limited-overs player. One can never fault him for trying, despite looking completely out of place in the coloured kit.
Did Sarfraz ask Azhar to play his ‘natural game’? For that would be a dogged, patient knock in the third innings to keep Pakistan in with a shout at a daunting overseas venue. Slogging his way out in the first powerplay is not what he does ‘naturally’.
Ahmed Shehzad’s ‘natural game’ is anybody’s guess. But if we define it as what he feels most comfortable doing, then it’s perhaps the unparalleled art of playing dot balls, for the 2-3 token boundaries that you will get in his 28-ball 15.
For Hafeez, apart from the effortless way he gets his partners run out, consuming dot balls and a complete inability to rotate strike, also comes naturally to him.
Let’s not forget that none of this trio is an up and coming youngster who could be groomed into something bordering on a modern ODI batsman. Two of them are former captains of Pakistan.
Of the remaining there’s the promising Babar Azam, whose admirable lust for runs is often matched by his disregard for the match he is playing in. Nowhere was this more evident than his last century at Providence in April. Also, that four of his five ODI centuries have come against the West Indies – a team not even in the Champions Trophy – also highlight that he has a long way to go to before he can become half as good a batsman as we claim he is. Question: How many teams in the Champions Trophy would he find a slot in?
The only batsman that can cope with the demands of the modern game, arguably, is Shoaib Malik. And he is currently playing a record equaling sixth Champions Trophy – so he’s hardly one for the future.
Of the ‘all-rounders’, captain Sarfaraz completely misuses himself lower down the order. Primarily because he can make the most of the powerplay and also because he is not a big hitter.
Imad Wasim is several notches lower than the players we have had at number 7. He is another one of the many in the team, who is not a big hitter.
While Shadab Khan emerged as a batting all-rounder in the domestic circuit, his exceptional bowling has overshadowed his batting, which, again, does not seem to possess the kind of fire power you need for a lower-order batsman in the modern game.
Even though Pakistani batting vows go back a long way, what has kept Pakistan competitive in the past six or seven years is the bowling – also Misbah’s ODI captaincy deserves a lot more credit than it deserves. But recently the bowling especially has gone pear-shaped.
The captaincy howlers that Sarfraz made need a completely separate piece to address, but what needs to be underscored here is that Pakitan’s ‘natural’ game isn’t in synchrony with the modern day limited-overs cricket.
It is dull, it is cagey, it is regressive. It’s not something that can be fixed by a coaching battalion, and no the domestic structure isn’t entirely to blame either.
We need to dump many of the ‘senior’ players for good and inject new blood, no matter how raw. Tell them a strike rate of less than 100 is unacceptable, if you’ve played more than 50 balls. Any century that doesn’t come at a run a ball, or quicker, should be held against the batsmen.
This is bound to fail initially, but the approach would mean that Pakistan would be able to compete in the 2019 World Cup.
Remember the England side that failed to qualify out of the group stages in the 2015 World Cup? They were a Craig Braithwaite blinder away from winning the ICC World T20 last year, are the favourites for the ongoing Champions Trophy, and should be among the favourites for the 2019 World Cup as well.
All it takes is an overhaul, and induction of players whose ‘natural game’ is in sync with modern times. Give them a chance and let them fail. What’s the point in repeating tried and tested failures?
The writer is a Lahore-based sports journalist
