So a few days ago, Pakistan lost a test series to Bangladesh 0-2, and fair to say, the results were shocking yet understandable to anyone who watched the 2 tests.
What followed those 2 tests to bridge the gap between the Bangladesh test series and the England test series is Mohsin Naqvi’s rather beautiful, weird, controversial, and somewhat confusing brainchild known as the Champions Cup.
A tournament featuring 5 teams with somewhat throwback-based names and mentors paid extravagantly like they are the sons-in-law of the house called PCB.
Now, to their credit, the fan living in a vibe of gloom, doom, and sadness between the Bangladesh and England series is not exactly the greatest of ideas, especially since the Champions Cup to its credit, managed to create a great cricketing atmosphere in Faisalabad which despite not being the appropriate format, braindead rules, regulations, and everything else, at least gave fans something to enjoy in times when the Pakistan team has fallen off a cliff performance-wise speaking.
Elsewhere England got mugged in back-to-back ODIs against Australia thanks to their completely new whiteball team, some good selection, and some brilliantly farcical decision-making.
What connects the current Pakistan team to the current English team and unifies their joint misery is a system that a lot of times defies logic and seems to prioritize this certain element called “the vibes”.
Now, honestly speaking, vibes are indeed an important factor in a cricketing system. The way a team and its fans feel about the current situation matters and hence we see people like Rob Key, Brendon McCullum(England’s upcoming white ball coach), Mohsin Naqvi and his entourage of supporting former cricketers believe in setting a certain vibe.
More often than not, the vibe is a very ostrich-styled hand-in-the-sand mentality of “everything is fine” as exemplified by Harry Brook’s controversial statement but at the same time, if you can believe your hype just enough, the system might just work. Now, Pakistan as mentioned above, has managed to set the vibes.
Babar getting a hundred, Niazi, Jahandad, and Ghulam all look good in their performances and do seem to set a rather assuring vibe of players having a certain amount of confidence and in an ideal world, they’d want that to translate to international performances.
And that’s the whole gist because a lot of times it is a matter of how a certain individual is feeling about themselves, the mentality, or when several individuals are involved, the V word.
At the end of it, Pakistan while out of any proper red-ball practice, does seem to have a good head space even if that is topped off with the uncertainties of red-ball cricket and the threat of Bazball-induced demolition looming large but if they do manage to make it work, then the credit goes to them I guess.
About the Author: Aman Patel, A long-term viewer and student of the game. Specialises in cricket from the 2000s.