Downfall at the crease

The savage series defeat inflicted by Bangladesh on Pakistan demonstrates that 23 years after they were granted Test status the Bangladeshis today stand on the brink of becoming part of the group of major powers in cricket. The demolition of Pakistan, which lost all three ODIs played, comes as a humiliation to the former world champions. It is the margins of defeat too which rankle: 79 runs in the first contest, 7 wickets in the second, 8 wickets in the third. The scores leave no doubt; this was not a matter of luck or home advantage, but one of a superior side effectively annihilating their opponents. The stunning batting of Tamim Iqbal, who scored two centuries in the first two games, and Soumaya Sarkar’s flamboyant 100 in the third encounter, drove home the extent of this supremacy. Against the Bangladeshis, on an upswing after moving ahead of England to reach the World Cup quarter finals in March, Pakistan had no answers. Our bowlers offered nothing and neither did our batsmen, with captain Azhar Ali’s last match ton unable to prevent a batting collapse with Pakistan bowled out for 250 in the first innings after choosing to bat. One can only sympathise with the beleaguered Ali, captaining the national team for the first time, as three key stalwarts of the game, Misbahul Haq, Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan bowed out at least for the series and possibly towards retirement. Without them, Pakistan seemed to have little to fall back on – and this is alarming.
For decades Pakistan cricket has relied essentially on prodigious talent, which has usually risen apparently spontaneously. Why we now seem to be short on depth of talent is something to think about. Are we not spotting and nurturing the right players? Are we making changes too quickly or have we simply run into a particularly dismal patch? All these questions need answers, and the diatribes pouring scorn on the team, coming often from former greats, do not help. We need something more constructive if we are to prevent cricket slumping into decline like so many of our other sports. The signs of trouble have been there for some time; the brittle state of the batting order has been pointed out before, as have bowling limitations. The defeat to Bangladesh should be an eye-opener. We need to consider what we are doing wrong, find leadership, rekindle passion and work towards building a team of winners once more. This after all is important to our morale as a nation given that in so many ways cricket is the glue that holds us together and gives us what little remains of our sense of pride.