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.