Pakistan’s recent performances in the ongoing T20 series against New Zealand have been an eye opener for the millions of the fans of the national team. While, majority of the fans, including me, expected a closely contested series, it has been anything but that as the Kiwis have won all three matches comfortably.
The Men in Green, regarded as one of the best T20 teams in world cricket, look a shadow of their former selves, lacking their usual killer instinct. They look like a one-dimensional side, which lacks ideas on the cricket field.
While many fans were already aware that Pakistan had some glaring weaknesses in the Test and ODI formats, T20 cricket was another ball game, with plenty of quality resources in this particular format.
Since the inception of T20 internationals in 2005, Pakistan has been one of the top sides with a magnificent record in the format. The Green Shirts finally found a format that their ‘mercurial’ nature perfectly blended with. Players such as Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq took to the format like a fish takes to water.
But it wasn’t only the players, it was the entire ecosystem of Pakistan cricket that exceled in the shorter format. On the field and off it, Pakistan knew exactly how to shine in the format.
Once the trailblazers of the format look like an average side, falling behind the modern T20 game, which should be a major cause of concern for the stakeholders of cricket in the country
Pakistan has failed to adapt, as has been the case with the national team in each of the three formats of the game. While the rest of the top teams in the world have gone up a level, Pakistan has fallen behind.
Pakistan cricket ecosystem has failed to cash in on its potential, not only in terms of producing players but also the tactical nuance needed to run a professional cricket team, on and off the field. From top to bottom, the organizational system seems to be rotten to the core, people employed within the PCB management and the national team management, have been a huge part of the issue as well as they have failed to adapt, clinging onto the past glory of Pakistan cricket.
Now, let’s digress a bit and focus specifically on the struggles of our T20 team. Personally, I believe T20 cricket is the simplest form of cricket, where you as a team need to utilize your resources to the maximum of their capabilities. With the plethora of talent available to Pakistan, it would mean winning 9 out of 10 of their matches.
Now what do I mean by maximizing your resources? It’s simple, devise a plan and assign specific roles to your players. That doesn’t mean that there is one specific approach as every team can have a different plan. After all, Pakistan and England, both with completely different approaches, qualified for the final of the 2022 T20 World Cup. What happened in the final is another debate, but it shows that there isn’t a specific approach to excel in T20 cricket.
So far in the New Zealand T20I series, we have seen Pakistan make the same mistake over and over again and that is poor utilization of resources. In the batting department, we have seen Azam Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed being used literally oppositely.
Azam, one of the best hitters of spin-bowling in T20 cricket around the world, has been sent in to face the pacers while Iftikhar, who is renowned for being a better player of pace than spin, has been sent in to face the spinners.
Similarly, in the bowling department, Pakistan’s utilization of Haris Rauf has baffled me. Rauf, a renowned death specialist, has been given the new ball in all 3 T20Is, and has gone for plenty, including conceding 60 runs in the previous T20I. Moreover, Pakistan’s inability to be flexible with the bowling changes has also been beyond my understanding.
Furthermore, the quality of the Pakistan spin attack, which once ruled T20 cricket, has been non-existent. Persistence with average spinners and failure to develop them in domestic cricket has been one of the major reasons for Pakistan’s atrocious run of form.
My point of view of T20 cricket is simple, and it stems from Brad Pitt’s film, the Moneyball (the idea is kind of similar). You need to score more runs than your opponent to win the match and for that, you need players to do specific roles for your team. Rather than going for the best players in the world, you need to go for players that go perfectly with your team’s plan.
Say for example, you have established 11 roles for your team, which may include anchors, power-hitters, pinch-hitters, innings-builder, lower-order hitter, opening bowler, run-container, middle-overs enforcer, death overs specialist, wicket-takers, (these aren’t just some fancy words). Once you’ve established the roles according to your team plan, then you go out and look for the best option for that role.
So, if I need one anchor in the team, then I’ll identify who fits that role perfectly. Just for the record, that is Babar Azam in the country. Similarly, if I need two opening bowlers for the side, then I’ll pick the best available options to fit that role specifically.
This is that one thing that Pakistan has lacked when they assembled the squad for the New Zealand series. The team has one new ball bowler in the entire squad, in the shape of our captain, Shaheen Afridi. Similarly, in the batting department, the entire squad has three middle-order batters and five openers. Make it make sense, please. Enough of these Bongi Harkatein.
The problems for Pakistan cricket will keep on mounting unless we move on with the times and put cricket ahead of the rest of the drama that has been going on in the PCB. You can’t make a team without having a clarity of what is exactly you want to do or else, you’ll just keep on struggling, stuck inside the same loop that Pakistan has been over the last few decades.
As renowned commentator, Bazid Khan, stated on a podcast with me (you can, actually you should, check it out here)
Pakistan cricket always looks to find a miracle, a miracle that could spur them on for a win, but how long will these miracles help us? We won’t improve unless we fix the root cause of all this mess