Pak left looking for answers after rout

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Pakistan’s loss against the West Indies was neither amusing nor amazing. The outcome was very much expected. Looking at the recent performance of the team in the two preceding series against Australia and England before the World Cup, it appears no one would want to put their money on this team.

They lost nine of their last 10 ODIs –– one against England was washed out –– which was a very alarming situation to be in. Australia whitewashed them 5-0 in the UAE and lost four matches against England while one was washed out.

Hoping for a miraculous turnaround in fortunes with the same set of players under the same leadership would not be a sound idea.

It was an abject surrender and the lack of confidence was evident. The batsmen found it difficult to get their eyes in and feet moving against a mediocre but very consistent pace attack of the Windies.

Windies bowlers Oshane Thomas and Jason Holder wreaked havoc to push a stuttering Pakistan on the backfoot from the beginning.

Few ardent supporters and die-hard fans might have been fancying Pakistan’s chances of winning the showpiece event but more pragmatic homo sapiens knew that the 1992 champions came into the tournament as underdogs.

Pakistan’s preparation for the showpiece event has been commendable as in the series against Australia seven of their frontline players did not feature and a third string team under Shoaib Malik came to the UAE.

The youngsters were given the assurance of a chance to play in England if they perform in the UAE, which put extra pressure both on the newcomers and established ones.

After being routed by the resurgent Australians, who came on the back of a series win against mighty India, Pakistan’s confidence was dented badly, which was further lacerated by the hosts England in the next series.

Sarfraz’s only achievement as captain in the ODIs has been the Champions Trophy triumph.

But if players were to be given chances based on past laurels, then Kapil Dev would have been in the Indian team as not only he became the first man to guide any Asian team to the World Cup glory but also ended the dominance of the West Indies, who have not been able to win the world title since. Giving too many chances to a tried and tested person, who has failed miserably to deliver on every instance, is a sign of a weak sporting nation, which shows they don’t have better options.

After the retirement of Mishbah-ul-haq, Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz’s ascent to the top was clear. He is sitting there comfortably with no imminent replacement in sight and that can be lethal for Pakistan cricket.

The fear of being sacked brings the best out of a person. When there are no appraisals, progress halts and countdown begins.

However, all is not lost yet and they still have a lot to fight for and need to recollect themselves and play as a unit with a winning mentality.

But this is a wake-up call and the Pakistan thinktank needs to retrospect before the situation goes out of control and they have to scramble to qualify for the next edition.