Third Umpire: Pakistan Team Hope!

 If we can learn anything from the Pakistan's teams recent performance at the Asia Cup is that the cricket team is shrouded in Hope. There is always, as a spectator, a seething hopeful expectation that someone will perform to mask the failures of the rest of the team. Collectively the team cannot be proud of much because in essence it was Mohammed Rizwan versus the rest of the Asia Cup teams. Yes even the best of players go through bad patches, but there is something infectious of bad patches within the Pakistan team. 

With preparations for the T29 World Cup in Australia around the corner, the pitiful performance of the team does not abode well for us. Indeed many draw comfort from the fact we made the final and in doing so beat India. Out of the six matches we played we lost three and the three we won included two very close wins, while our losses we essentially wipe outs. Our batting failures were phenomenal disasters an exposed how disjointed our team can really be. 

As talk shifts to the upcoming World Cup we must stop and reflect on what went wrong in the Asia Cup and the bearing it has on the team selection ahead.

1. Captaincy.

Babar Azam's failures in batting can be seen as part and parcel of the bad days even the best of players have. However, it was his failure as a captain that gives concern. Especially in the final against Sri Lanka, with having them pinned down at 55 for 5 why not persist with the strike bowlers? Letting the pressure of with introducing Iftikhar (who had not even bowled in the tournament) was a crucial mistake. Nawaz, a specialist spinner ended up with one one over for three runs and by the time the strike bowlers were brought back the Lankan batsmen had already taken the initiative. Captaincy is all about planning and executing to a plan and when things don't seem to be going one's way to have imagination and boldness. Babar not only lacked this but somehow after the ninth over went on the defensive. School team captains will have more aggression and imagination than Babar Azam,

2. Batsmen.

The best bowling attacks in the world need a good total to defend, or when batting second batsmen need to plan the chase well. In this World Cup our batsmen were about as useful as a chocolate tea pot. Fakhar Zamman shot selection makes him ideal for a game of 'gulli danda' (Tipcat in English) but doubt he even knows how to play with a straight bat. Iftikhar, Khushdil, and Asif are really one player who comes in three different names, the lack of success and failed expectation of six hitters are common to all three. These triplets also seem to make the same mistakes in the same innings. 

3. Fielding. 

True that catches win matches, in our case collisions lose matches. Why don't fielders call for the high catches as being 'theirs'? Then the quality of catches was a fine display of butter fingers. Crucial fielding left offs, bad field placements and in general a lack of commitment on the field dragged down the morale of the team. On the fast outfields in Australia this lack of fielding skills will be seriously exposed. 

What about the team selection for Australia?

Clearly the upcoming series against England may well be a time to fix things. But more needs to be done than hope seven matches will fix the team. Some overhaul needs to happen. The three stooges in the middle order must go. We cannot continue to hope that in the next match by some miracle they will perform because in the same breath we know they will fail at crucial moments. The bowling side is well balanced and with Shaheen Shah back playing four fast bowlers, one spinner (Shahdab) and one all rounder (Nawaz) will give the options we need for bowling well in Australia. Rizwan and Babar are givens which means we have three batsmen to choose. Talk of Shoaib Malik should be put aside as he has a terrible record in Australia. 

Let us hope that replacements for Fakhar, Iftikhar, Khushdil and Asif can be found quick enough and tried out against the English. Some serious work needs to be done on Babar as a captain and hopefully to teach him to keep friendships off the field (reference his affinity for Hassan Ali). 

Two things we must learn from the Sri Lankan side.

a. Mental strength. Through the whole Asia Cup they should remarkable mental composure and no matter what happened they did not lost the plot.

b. Developing and Plan and keeping to it was one of their hallmarks. Each chase seemed to be carefully planned and at no time did they seem to be bogged down by the force of circumstance.

In essence Sri Lanka were the most deserving winners of the Asia Cup.

Pakistan: Stalemate or Turning point!

 Since April of this year the political turmoil in Pakistan has dominated the scene. Irrespective of the narrative of each camp there can be no denying that the country has never witnessed polarisation of the sought we see today. Entombed in different camps, bereft of any dialogue the political impasse, more often than not, is adjudicated in the courts of law. The already fragile political fabric is torn with each infringement of the process, with each interference and intrigue. There remains no honest arbitrator who can cut through this angry polarisation and bring a meaningful dialogue to the table.

The economy was already sick, a cancer of thirty years and then the devastation of the recent floods has crippled an already corpse like body of the economy. The floods as much a result of climate change as also the consequence of decades of mismanagement of water resources. The nations only response remains fund raising for the destitute and the affected poor of the country. Few ask why this could not have been prevented. 

Imran Khan, today perhaps the most popular leader of the country, faces the growing dragnet of legal challenges and and a struggle to somehow get the country to the elections. his distractors would accuse him of being decisive and diversionary, his admirers consider him principled and focused. Either way there is weight in the argument that had he and his party sat in the Opposition by now the rag tag coalition that conspired his downfall might well have been out of office themselves. After all the former cricket captain turned politician would be hard pressed to recall a cricket match he won with his entire team in the stadium!

As for the alliance glued together against Imran Khan there is little denying that a sense of fear binds them together more than any lofty aim of doing the country good. Asif Zardari, as much the architect of Imran's downfall, shrewdly sits out of government letting his former arch enemy, the PMLN of the Shareef clan take the blame of the failures of the current coalition government. For Zardari knows that avoiding an election is not possible for ever but if the only by product of these shenanigans is that the Shareef brothers will be discredited then he has achieved an important goal.   

There is much talk of the elder Shareef, (Nawaz) returning to the country even though he is a sentence criminal and all he can return for is serving the remainder of his time. Other than a Presidential Pardon (highly unlikely) or a complete re-write of the Constitution, (also impossible) any hopes of seeing Nawaz Shareef in the political forefront is wishful thinking. But then we are reminded that this is Pakistan where anything is possible; after all for a period the Constitution of Pakistan had the name of a military dictator mentioned in it! (General Zia ul Haq).

At the crux of Pakistan's political misfortunes lies that fact that all the political parties, especially the three major ones, PTI, PMLN and PPP, are in essence just political movements and not really political parties. They are led by individuals in the absence of whom the parties will seize to exist, which might well explain why so much effort is done, legally and not so legally, to get rid of the head then the body will crumble. In a broader perspective of history it might well explain why at least 46 politicians lost their lives violently, starting from Liaquat Ali Khan, and the list includes, Mr Z A Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto and Mr. Bugti to name a few. Gen Zia, the main character in the elimination of Mr Z A Bhutto, was oblivious of an Arab saying that when you kill the snake you must get rid of its children too. 

Clearly violent solutions to what are essentially political problems is neither desired nor should be advocated. Dialogue should replace strife, and a recognition that never before has Pakistan faced three challenges of the magnitude it faces today. Political, economic, and a natural calamity as descended on the country in a perfect storm. Almost as if the heavens above want the people to wake up and accept that the issues that concern them are bigger than the narrative of politics that is bandied around with indifference to the worst possible outcomes for the country. 

As much as an election would be a turning point to sort out the political instability it could well also create an entirely new challenge if the elections are in any way rigged. Yet someone has to realise that in the absence of dialogue the only way for the stalemate to be broken is for even one of the stakeholders to stand up and say 'ENOUGH' and then do something to bring about the stability the country so desperately needs. This alone will set the course to plan an economic recovery and some return to normalcy. Ignoring this need of the hour will only mean further pain and hardship for the people of Pakistan.