Sunday’s defeat brought the curtains down on Pakistan’s tour of South Africa. A humbling was expected in the longer format and it duly arrived. The shorter format was supposed to be more even and it turned out to be just that. On the face of it, triumph in the one-off T20 International and a narrow defeat in the ODI’s is not a bad result but one cannot help feel that the ODI series could have been clinched as well given that the South Africans were not at full strength.
AB De Villiers made sure that did not happen in more ways than one. The South African captain combined his leadership and wicket keeping duties with a superlative performance with the bat and proved to be the difference between the two sides. Suffice to say, his Man of the Series award was well deserved.
Another player who played a crucial role was the seemingly innocuous Ryan Mclaren. The all rounder did not do too much with the bat but was more than a handful with the ball taking important scalps in all but one of the ODI’s. His presence served to highlight a glaring weakness in the Pakistani camp; the lack of not just a quality backup fast bowler but a fast bowler who can contribute with the bat. Riaz could be afforded some leniency for he was making a comeback but the all-rounder Pakistan did employ returned home wicket less while contributing with the bat when the pressure was off. When it was actually required and the heat was on, Boom Boom predictably went bust.
Misbah gets a lot of unjustified criticism but his place-despite the fact that he finished as the leading run scorer-and his overall strategy in limited overs cricket are questionable at best. Asad Shafiq was our most accomplished batsman in tests but could hardly get a game in the shorter format. Admittedly he has never quite set the limited overs stage on fire butpart of it is down to the fact that he continues to be made the scapegoat for the failure of others.
The axing of Nasir Jamshed after failing to perform in the first 3 games boggles the mind. More so when you consider the alternatives; Hafeez continues to occupy the opening slot because he can bowl and Farhat’s main asset continues to be his father-in-law. Granted, he played a match winning knock in the 4th ODI for which he deserves credit, the left hander looked out of sorts even when batting in the nineties.
The bowling front looks more encouraging. Fitness is the only obstacle standing in the way of Junaid Khan and Mohammad Irfan who were for the most part excellent. Gul’s Jekyll and Hyde act would have been disappointing had it occurred for the first time but ten years on, the wiry fast bowler continues to blow hot and cold, sometimes even in the same over.
Overall it would not be amiss to say that Pakistan failed to take their chances over the course of the tour. Pakistan had a golden opportunity to level the test series but failed to capitalize and had
Younis Khan grasped De Villier’s chance in the final ODI, the outcome may well have been different. As it stands they did not which tells you that this lot is not quite there but the fact that they are getting into such positions indicates they are not that far off either.
hmm, well analysed.
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