KARACHI: There have been many explanations for Pakistan’s sorry plight in Sri Lanka where Younis Khan’s men became the first visitors from their country to suffer a Test series defeat on Tuesday.
Some are the usual conspiracy theories while the more objective ones have once again underlined the fact that Pakistan were and still remain one of the most unpredictable teams in world cricket.
“You can expect anything from Pakistan. They are so unpredictable,” the experts kept telling you as the Pakistanis lost wicket after wickets on the third day of their second Test in Colombo to finally lose the match by seven wickets.
Unpredictability alone, however, cannot explain why Pakistan could throw away nine wickets for a mere 35 runs after having dominated the same Sri Lankan attack for almost two preceding sessions and at times plundered it for runs, almost at will.
It cannot explain why a rookie on Test debut could master both the pacers and slow bowlers to muster up 168 with an enviable ease while most of his more experienced and illustrious teammates couldn’t even reach the double figures. Neither can Younis Khan’s explanation that his team has gone through three horrific batting collapses in four innings because it lacks Test exposure.
It’s true that Pakistan have been dealt a raw deal. They haven’t been playing much Test cricket in recent times. But you cannot hide behind that excuse each time your batters, especially the senior ones, just throw away their wickets. They just didn’t show any responsibility. Lack of Test exposure had very little to do with it and I’m sure Younis knows it. There has to be much more to it than just the shortage of Test practice why in the first two Tests of the series against Sri Lanka, three of the team’s senior batters have managed a combined score of 198 runs.
Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal — three of the key players in the batting-line have almost completely flopped in the series.
Take a look at Misbah’s stats. The 35-year-old has scored 779 runs from 14 Tests at an average of 37.09. But in the last two Tests, he has just scored 66 runs at 16.50. He started off well in Galle with a 56 in the first innings but has since fell for 7, 0 and 3.
Shoaib Malik, who relinquished captaincy to Younis earlier this year, has fared little better. He has scored 83 at 27.66, which is lower than his career average of 35.73 from 25 Tests (1215 runs). Malik was one of the most prolific run-getters when Pakistan toured Sri Lanka in 2006.
Kamran Akmal has been the worst, managing just 29 runs from four outings in the current series at 12.25. The wicketkeeper-batsman has a much better career record, having accumulated 2151 runs from 42 Tests at 33.09.
The trio’s below-par showing has added fuel to conspiracy theories which suggest that even a morale-boosting triumph in the World Twenty20 Championship in England last month has failed to unite the team, which many believe stays bitterly divided.
Former Pakistan Test pacer Sarfraz Nawaz is convinced that there are ‘groupings’ within the team with senior players like Malik and Misbah unwilling to give their best under Younis.
Inzamam-ul-Haq has raised similar fears. The former Pakistan captain also believes that Younis is doing little to erase this menace.
It is certainly the job of the captain and the rest of the team management to find out whether such suspicion is based upon any truth.
If yes, then its high time that Pakistan find ways to ensure that the team is fully united because that’s the only way you can get the best out of it.
Even if such theories are off the mark, Pakistan cricket’s think-tank has to find solutions for the team’s perennial problem — inconsistency.
That can only be achieved by promoting the culture of professionalism among the players. Batsmen should be given ample chances but if it becomes clear that they are not learning from past mistakes then replacements should and must come in.
Take the case of Salman Butt. The left-handed opener was awfully out of form and was replaced with debutant Fawad Alam. The rest, as they say is history.
Players like Malik and Misbah, are not sacred cows either. If they are not up to the mark, then there will always be Faisal Iqbal or another middle-order batsman to replace them.
In fact, now is the time to bring about such changes. With the series already lost, there is an opportunity to try out players like Faisal and Abdul Razzaq in the third and final Test.
Pakistan cannot afford to sit down and cry over spilt milk. They have a couple of tough away Test assignments coming up in the next six months and will have to devise a strategy to ensure that they avoid similar heartbreaks in New Zealand and Australia.
Nobody is expecting Pakistan to just go out there and outclass the Aussies in their own backyard. But one does want the team to at least give them a real fight.
It is time that Pakistan stopped ruing over the fact that they have been made the pariahs of world cricket on the pretext of security concerns and salvage the best possible deal for themselves.
Winning the World Twenty20 was an excellent start. We should have carried it on in Sri Lanka but that didn’t happen. There is a need for a post-mortem to find the actual causes behind the back-to-back defeats in Galle and Sri Lanka. Then we should just move on.
On a more positive note, Pakistan can derive some positives from their series defeat. The most shining one is Fawad Alam — the talented left-hander, who made the most of a chance that should have come his way much earlier.
With the sort of steely determination, confidence and temperament he has, it seems Colombo has witnessed the start of what is likely to be a successful Test career for the young man.
