Third Umpire: Cricket, 30% Talent 70% Attitude.

 In fairness the by line of Talent and Attitude is borrowed from the lovely game of basketball, with a small change in the play of words, it applies to the Pakistan cricket team aptly. Losing and wining is part and parcel of any sport, the crucial question is the manner in which you lose and most importantly what do you learn from your short comings. Ever since following the Pakistan team one has had to accept this team can surprise one when least expected and disappoint us in equal measure. 

Six months before the current World Cup campaign there was a feeling that the team possessed a penentrating pace attack, (two or three wickets in the first ten overs) and a decent but not spectacular spin and an enviable top order batting line up. In the Asia Cup, prior to the current competition, the defeat to India seemed to have not only dented these perceptions but severely damaged them. Fast bowlers hunt in pairs, and Naseem Shah being sidelined can partly explain the wheels falling off the sting of the pace attack. But then we always boasted of depth in our battery of pace bowlers, and while Hassan Ali, surprisingly has stepped up, the previously dependable pacers have lost their mojo. Haris Rauf is hell bent of breaking the world speed record and forgetting what price he has to pay in runs for that.

It has been some time since Pakistan possessed world class spinners, and while Shahdab can have a few great outings, the consistency is sorely absent. In the batting department the team rested on the twin shoulders of Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan, with the odd man standing up and being counted. If either one failed the task of batting to the objectives become twice as hard, if both failed the team failed. While Abdullah Shafique may have plugged some of the gaps at the opener level, the problem remains at the middle order where no one is dependable enough to hold the fort and then take the battle to the opposing bowlers. Why batsmen like Babar, Kohli, Warner and few others excel is because fundamentally speaking they have a good technique. The ability to adjust their approach is an element of their technique allowing them to play each ball on its merit. The middle order on the other hand even when they may have technique have a misplaced approach. The mentality is to slog their way out of trouble, rather than keep the scoreboard ticking along. 

Over lay these bowling and batting disasters with perhaps the shoddiest fielding by any side in the modern day game of cricket and you have a biryani that will be tasteless and destined for the rubbish bin. Dolly catches dropped, straight forward fielding mistakes giving boundaries and a general lack of application in the field are visible through 50 agonizing overs of spills and mishaps. In fairness over the recent years fitness of the players has improved, but with it the improvement of fielding skills has been lacking. 

Failures happen to the best bowlers and batsmen and this is part and parcel of the game. The fundamental problem with the team remains ATTITUDE. When pace bowlers are being hit all over the park they don't adjust their line and length till atleast two overs of misery have passed. The bowlers don't seem to read the conditions and forget the cardinal rule that when things are not going well go to wicket to wicket bowling, nothing sexy nothing fancy. Leadership remains a major worry; Babar Azam is a great player but his captaincy skills leave a lot to be desired. Rarely does he walk up to a bowler being battered to guide him or encourage him. His bowling changes are strange at times, and when there is the need to attack his field settings are defensive. Perhaps the burden of captaincy added to the need to perform is too much for his shoulders. 

With three defeats Pakistan needs to win all the remaining matches and hope a result here or there in other matches goes their way. However getting into the final four will need more than divine intervention, prayers and hope. The mental approach of all the players will need to be totally focused and positive. The plan for each match will have to be carefully put into place with a Plan B and even Plan C in place should things not go the way they want. Playing to the conditions is very important, and this essentially means that Indian wickets are unforgiving for wayward bowling and this is where the difference has been for teams like India and South Africa. Both teams have bowled not as they love to bowl elsewhere in the world but simply kept it simple and uncomplicated letting the batsmen make the mistakes. 

Prior to the tournament I felt that England was the best balanced side and perhaps my favorites for the Cup. Their bowling, much like Pakistan's tried to search for the seam and swing which was only available on Indian wickets is sparing sessions. The failure to then adjust the attack has meant that both teams have lost their way in this campaign. I am not sure we have a world class mental coach for the team but at this stage what the Pakistan team, (and the England team) need most is a change in the mental approach to the games that are left.