- Can the team recover?
It probably doesn’t surprise fans anymore when Pakistan cricket team suffers the sort of defeat that it did at the hands of the West Indies in their opening match of the WC19 (World Cup 2019), losing by 7 wickets after managing a paltry 105 runs, the second lowest total at Trent Bridge. It does however disappoint and anger fans, more with each embarrassing defeat, and those feelings were aptly captured in a viral video showing the team, heads down, walking back to their enclosure as spectators chanted slogans against them. The frustration is compounded by the fact that the loss marks the team’s 12th consecutive ODI defeat, that includes two whitewashes at the hands of Australia and England going into the WC19. Not known for its stability, consistency or dependability our top and middle batting order simply collapsed facing the West Indies– ranked eighth in the world in 50-over cricket and lucky to qualify– which had a pulverising bowling attack that comprised short pitched deliveries that even our most experienced batsmen were unable to play. Perhaps the only saving grace was Muhammad Amir who picked up 3 wickets for 26 runs in 6 overs, but regretfully he could not capitalise on these figures in the absence of a defendable total.
As this encounter was supposed to be relatively easier than the upcoming matches that include England and India, it is a terrible confidence-shattering start to the biggest tournament of the game. Senior players like Sarfaraz and Hafeez making 8 and 16 runs respectively will have to do much better, and they don’t have many matches to improve if the team is to progress in this tournament. No partnerships could be formed suggesting that perhaps there is a communication gap where individual batsmen are playing for themselves rather than the team. Expecting the tailenders to pick up the slack is unrealistic and unfair. The team needs to learn from this loss, put it behind them and move on with a better plan. Otherwise, short of some miracle, surviving the group-match stage does not seem likely.
