Pakistan clinched the rain-hit four-match Twenty20 series against West Indies 1-0. Three matches in the series ended without a result due to rain, hurting the preparations of both teams for the T20 World Cup that begins in October this year.The first match in Barbados ended without a result. Pakistan won the second game in Guyana by seven runs. The next two games, also in Guyana, ended without any result.

In the only completed second T20, Pakistan’s top order yet again proved that they are the pillars of Pakistan batting. Sharjeel Khan (20) Babar Azam (51) and Mohammad Rizwan (46) provided a solid start and at one stage the Green-shirts were 113-2 in the 14th over and a score from 170-180 looked likely.

But as the rain interrupted the play and the match resumed, Pakistan managed only 157-8 in the allotted 20 overs.

Hafeez showed his experience in the Power play and produced one of the most economical spells in the history of T20 Internationals with figures of 4-1-6-1 and received the Man-of-the-Match award.

The management now has only the home series against New Zealand to finalise the team combination for T20 World Cup. The two countries will play five T20Is in September.

Defeats in England again proved that our batting is the main concern. The young batsmen lack experience and face difficulty in playing on the seaming tracks.

Pakistani players should not blame conditions for the loss in England. The pitches did not behave unexpectedly. Professional cricketers should be ready to face every challenge.

Batting on seaming tracks has always been a problem for Pakistani batsmen, but bowling always remained a strong point. But in the pacers-friendly conditions where English bowlers took Pakistani wickets quite easily, Pakistani bowlers looked toothless.

After the embarrassing defeat in England, head coach Misbah-ul-Haq said Mohammad Hafeez has not been doing as well as he did last year, and other middle-order players are struggling.

Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah, Sohaib Maqsood, Azam Khan, Sharjeel Khan, and Fakhar Zaman failed to perform with consistency.

The Green-shirts have settled on the opening combination of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, two players who offer consistency. But we are no closer to resolving their middle-order woes.

There is a lack of planning on execution and too much confusion about the players’ role in the team.

Hafeez played at four while as an experienced player he could be more beneficial as a finisher. He has proved his finishing skills multiple times.

Under Misbah’s coaching reign, Pakistan’s overall record has remained poor as the Green-caps suffered whitewashes against Sri Lanka, Australia and New Zealand in Tests and T20I series and recently against England.

After every defeat, the skipper and the coach promise that players will learn from their mistakes. But after more than two years, there is no improvement in the players’ batting style.

Pakistan’s batsmen score 20-30 runs easily but when they are set and can play big innings throw their wickets with stupid shots.

A coach should not only improve the players’ skills but should also teach them how to keep calm in crunch situations.

Is replacing coaches the solution to the long-time batting problem? Obviously not. If attention is not given to domestic structure, Pakistan will continue struggling on fast and bouncy tracks.

Most of our batsmen play T20 cricket in a conservative fashion like 50-overs cricket. They particularly fail to make use of the first power play. That’s why in the PSL draft, foreign top-order hitters are first choice for the franchise owners.

In the last two years, Pakistan were one of the two bottom teams on scoring rate in the powerplay. Pakistan score 7.09 runs per over which is even behind Afghanistan (8.22). England are on the top with 8.49 runs per over. Pakistan’s middle overs’ performance has been much better.

To accelerate the run rate in the middle overs, the management tried over a dozen players, including Asif Ali, Khushdil Shah, Haider Ali, and Iftikhar Ahmed but none of them performed like Glenn Maxwell, Keiron Pollard, Eoin Morgan or David Miller. Pakistan went back to Hafeez soon after a disappointing performance of the above players.

The team management will have to sort out the problems of middle-order before the T20 World Cup 2021. The team management needs to make a proper combination before the T20 World Cup.

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