Written by: Waseem Abbas
Posted on: June 13, 2024 | 
Shaheen Shah Afrid and Babar Azam
Pakistan cricket team is in a similar position as it was in the 2022 T20 World Cup (WC): depending on ‘ifs-and-buts’ and ‘other teams’ to qualify for the super-8 round. After a humiliating defeat against the United States on the 6th of June in Dallas, Pakistan mucked up another game to the archrival, India, on the 9th of June in New York. Although, Pakistan is not yet officially out of the megaevent, its chances look bleak. For Pakistan to qualify for the next round, Pakistan needs to win against Ireland, while India and Ireland should win against the United States of America (USA), which will make Pakistan and the USA tied with four points each. If Pakistan maintains better run rates (NRR) than the USA after the end of round one, it still can qualify for the next round.
Naseem Shah cries after losing to India, while Shaheen can also be seen
As an observer of Pakistan’s cricket, it does not deserve to qualify for the next round for its performance has not been up to the mark. If Pakistan somehow qualifies for the next round, it will only protect those responsible for the downfall that Pakistan cricket faces. 'A major surgery' is needed to cure the ills that have engulfed Pakistan cricket for years, as also indicated by the incumbent Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman, Mohsin Naqvi. And this ‘surgery’ should be done even if Pakistan ends up winning the World Cup. Pakistan needs to bring structural and systematic changes in the cricket board in order to do well in megaevents, such as prioritizing domestic performers, maintaining fitness standards, preferring team requirements over personal milestones, overcoming psychological pressures and upholding a healthy environment in the dressing room.
Chief Selector and Senior Manager Wahab Riaz, Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi and captain Babar Azam
To find out why Pakistan lost the first two games and how it could have avoided them is the first step towards redressal of the issues at hand. Timid batting approach, lack of intent, failure of spinners to take wickets, shambolic fielding, the inability of a few blowers to bowl according to the field setting and not utilizing the powerplay properly, are a few of the major reasons for Pakistan's failures.
Muhammad Rizwan bowled by Jasprit Bumrah
Babar Azam scored 44 runs (42 balls) against USA and Muhammad Rizwan scored 31 runs (44 balls) against India, the top scorers for the team in respective games. While there is no doubt that they have scored heavily in the past, but the strike rate at which they score has always been criticized. They mostly consumed most of the deliveries in batting-friendly pitches and against comparatively easier oppositions, which keeps the middle and lower order untested/unprepared for high-voltage games, where the opening duo fails quite often.
ESPNcricinfo’s Matt Roller summed up the debate: “Rizwan and Babar bat deep, which means the middle order rarely get the chance to face many balls; when they do, their dearth of recent opportunities means they underperform. That, in turn, means that Rizwan and Babar feel the need to get things done themselves; and the middle order's opportunities are limited once again. What came first, the chicken or the egg?”
Muhammad Rizwan and Babar Azam batting against Canada
The opening duo, known as Rizbar, was broken to adjust young Saim Ayub, who failed to grab his opportunities. Pakistan has rarely groomed middle-order players, as in the squad of this WC, only Iftikhar Ahmed and Azam Khan can be regarded as middle-order players, as all others including Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Muhammad Rizwan, Usman Khan and Babar Azam open in T20. A playing XI consisting of five openers, a few 'allrounders', and one middle order (Iftikhar Ahmed), who mostly bats at lower order, is going to fail more often than not.
It is important that the team management supports its core of players, but it is also important that it recognizes the right talent and grooms it. Pakistan has maintained the core of Haris Rauf, Shadab Khan, Babar Azam, Muhammad Rizwan and Naseem Shah amongst others, but they have failed to bring any desirable results. Shadab Khan has failed terribly as a bowler since the T20 WC 2022 and has been with the team as an allrounder despite continuous failures. Haris Rauf cannot control his nerves in difficult situations, as is evident from Virat Kohli's carnage against him in the 2022 WC, and the onslaught of USA's players in the ongoing WC.
Haris Rauf and Usman Khan celebrate after taking a wicket
Former Chairman of PCB, Najam Sethi, has revealed in an interview that there are various groups within the team. Wasim Akram also said that he has heard the rumors that some players are not on talking terms with each other, while Shahid Afridi has said that he will open up about the debacle after the World Cup. It has been rumored that Shaheen Shah Afridi and Babar Azam have had a strained relationship for the last few months. It all started during the ODI World Cup 2023, when the then chairman of PCB, Zaka Ashraf, haphazardly decided to unceremoniously sack Babar Azam, due to which he had to resign after the megaevent. Shaheen Afridi replaced Babar, but after a string of failures and a disappointing PSL campaign leading Lahore Qalandars, the new PCB management under Mohsin Naqvi reinstated Babar Azam as the team's captain for the T20 World Cup, off-loading Afridi. The desire for captaincy, coupled with shortsighted decisions by the PCB management, divided the two biggest superstars in Pakistan cricket, leading the team to disarray. Pakistan's coach, Gary Kristen, also admitted in a post-match press conference that the team did not play as a unit and could not execute the given plans. If rumors are to be believed, 4-5 players are siding with Shaheen, 3-4 players are with Babar, while the rest are perplexed as to which lobby would be better for their interests.
Coach Garry Kristen in the press conference after the loss against India
Pakistan needs to groom new talent for the T20 format, and ultimately for One Day Internationals, who can play fearless cricket with an attacking mindset. Pakistan should give chances to players like Haider Ali, Haseebullah, Muhammad Haris, Azam Khan (if he improves his fitness), Muhammad Waseem, Abbas Afridi, Faisal Akram, Mehran Mumtaz, Sahibzada Farhan and Salman Ali Agha amongst others. This was what England did after a disastrous 2015 ODI World Cup, which revitalized their team and they won the ODI WC in 2019, and the T20 WC in 2022. English selectors dropped senior and established players like Ian Bell, Andrew Strauss, James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood and Ravi Bopara, to give regular opportunities to players like Jason Roy, Alex Hales, Jhonny Bairstow, Eion Morgan, Moeen Ali and Ben Stokes, who all were central to their success in upcoming ICC events. Pakistan needs to imitate the English policy of rejuvenating the team by injecting fresh blood and giving them the freehand to play fearless cricket. It is the only recipe for success. For it to happen, the dirty politics at the PCB centers in Lahore, need to be stopped, once and for all.
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