Pakistan’s Batting

The game between England and Pakistan was vitally important for both teams. England had unnecessarily given up points by not going to Zimbabwe and beaten a couple of minnows unconvincingly. Pakistan had lost badly to Australia and had won against Namibia, again, unconvincingly. Both teams should have been fired up for the game. The situation required 100% effort, till the last ball was bowled. No lapses in concentration. A positive attitude was required whatever the conditions or the team’s predicament. The English team did exactly what the situation warranted and the Pakistanis fell flat on their face. This kind of a lapse is not new for this or any Pakistan team but the way this one ended up was a lot worse than the defeats we have had before. This one should hurt a lot more and this one has taken away all hopes or aspirations that any of the Pakistani fans had.

Salim Elahi was the highest run getter for Pakistan against Namibia. He played well against Australia before throwing his wicket away. That is more than any of our other top order bats did against Australia. So what does the tour selections committee do? They leave him out of the squad!! Doesn’t make any sense to me. But I do not for a moment think that was the reason we lost. Pakistan lost the toss and England batted first. It was always going to be uphill for our bats to chase anything over 220 under the lights. As we saw in the SA series recently, batting under the lights was very treacherous on just about all SA pitches. Wasim Akram again started off brilliantly and removed Trescothick with a nice out-swinger. He was unlucky to bowl a no-ball to Vaughan first up because he had him caught at square leg. Vaughan played an important innings after that so it was a significant break for England. Shoaib did not bowl with a good line or length. However, he did cross the 100mph mark. Now all that talk about the speed gun in Lahore being fake and so on can stop. Shoaib has not bowled well with the new ball (in the two games that meant anything) and it may not be a bad idea to drop him down to being first change again. Wasim has been bowling brilliantly and so he needs someone on the other end to contain runs or get a wicket or two. So it maybe better for Waqar to start with the new ball & get some out-swing going early. When he did come on first change, to Waqar’s credit he got two wickets and England were soon in trouble. Knight tried to force Waqar and was caught at mid off. Nasser played a cut with the ball very close to his body and was snapped up brilliantly by Rashid. Saqlain was brought on early, which was also a good move & runs were tough to get. Everything was going to plan. Shoaib Akhter was brought back early for his second spell & got Vaughan. Shahid was brought on before Razzaq and bowled Stewart neck & crop. It was 118/5 and Pakistan was right on top.

If Waqar made any mistake in the game as a captain, it was at this juncture. He took Shoaib off too early. I think he should have bowled him for another over or two. And once he took Shoaib off, there was no reason to have your bowler number 5 & 6 bowl in tandem. I have said time again that not under any situation should an attacking bowling side should have two of their worst bowlers in tandem. So when Shoaib was taken off, Wasim should have been given a bowl to get another wicket or two. Razzaq or Shahid or Saqlain should have bowled from the other end. This way there was a chance that they would have gotten another wicket via Shoaib or Wasim. Once Saqlain got Flintoff at 160/6, they should have just attacked all out to get England out and not wait for the death to bowl Shoaib & Wasim in tandem. If you bowl the opposition’s last four out in the 44th over by attacking you do not have to worry about the last six overs. So I think Waqar let up and England prodded & blocked their way to 246 in 50 overs. I think the total was about 30 runs too high from where Pakistan had them at 160/6.

Whatever the total, the batting needed to be positive so that we had a chance. It was totally the opposite. Afridi came out in his usual fashion and launched Caddick into the mid-on stands for a six in the second over. But the very next ball, he tried to force one that was swinging away and was out caught behind. There is talk of Afridi being demoted to lower middle order. I think that is where he should bat and should come up the order only in a pinch hitter role as one down if the situation warrants (like chasing a big total or a flat batting wicket or an early loss within first 15 overs). He should be asked to play a couple of dot balls after getting a big hit to calm himself down as the bowler does have a plan right after being hit to counter the same shot again. However, the idea was right. The ball was swinging and playing under lights was going to be tough. The batting needed to be positive so that the bowlers did not get into any rhythm. Inzi came in and was out first ball caught at third slip. His promotion to number 3 is the right thing but he needs to learn how to leave the ball that pitches outside off. He would have known that Andersen bowled a natural away swinger with the new ball. None of his deliveries move back in early on. If he did not know that then he did not do his homework. Thus if a ball pitches outside off in the first few balls you face, you let it go by sticking your leg out and bat held high. Inzi did not do that and fished at it. Youhana walked in and got an away swinger bowled at this leg stump. I had a natural out-swinger with the new ball and my goal was always to bowl at the batsman’s leg stick and get him playing across. Youhana did the same and was bowled as the ball swung away towards his middle stick. It was a good Yorker but a batsman of Youhana’s experience needs to know that his bat should be coming from the keeper absolutely straight back and not from the gully position. He should have played straight so that if the ball swung it would hit the edge and roll away. He should never have been playing across. At that juncture the game was lost if the attitude was not positive. That is exactly what happened. Younis went into a shell to defend. When the bowlers are on top, good batsmen like Ponting, Martyn or Lara or DeSilva come in and play a few shots. The idea is to get the bowlers off their rhythm and get them to rethink their line and length. If you keep defending then they gather more steam and just keep hitting the line and length. Andersen and Caddick did that. Younis just went asleep. Saeed was playing well but still not smashing fours on bad balls. An away swinger can be either prodded at like the Pakistanis were doing or you could lay back and slash it over point like Ponting does if you know that it is going to be an away swinger. Andersen never bowled an indipper in his spell but we did not capitalize on any loose stuff outside off. That was a big mistake. He kept getting stronger and eventually got Saeed playing across. Younis had perished to a mistimed hook off Flintoff and the game was over. Razzaq, who is totally out of form, played and missed a few before getting bamboozled by a leg cutter from White. It was total demolition until Shoaib walked in at number 11. And this is why I say somebody up top needed to take the bull by the horns and play some shots to get a couple of good overs and knock the bowlers off their line and length. Shoaib smacked everyone around and scored a valiant 43 off 19 odd balls. This is remarkable if you realize that the team only got to 134.

Pakistan has not batted out the 50 overs against Australia or England. Their batting has been pathetic to say the least. With this kind of batting there is no hope for the future. However there are a few things that we can do to perform better in the last three games of the tournament to have any chance of qualifying:

1. Pray to God that you win the toss against India & Zimbabwe and bat this time.
2. The team be selected for three games. Whoever plays against Holland should play against India & Zimbabwe to get some consistency.
3. Play the following in batting order: Saeed, Elahi, Inzi, Yousuf, Younis, Afridi, Rashid, Wasim, Shoaib, Saqlain, Waqar.
4. Do not make any radical changes as it is too late for that.
5. Bat positively whatever the situation. Take some risks, rotate strike, do something different like sending Akram up the order as pinch hitter if warranted, etc.
6. Never bowl two lesser bowlers in tandem. Have Shoaib, Wasim & Waqar bowl from one end with Saqlain & Shahid from the other end to fill the 15-40 over span. That means as an example start with Wasim & Waqar for e.g., & have Saqlain and Shoaib come in first change at about the 12 over mark. Then have Saqlain be replaced by Shahid at about the 24 over mark with Shoaib coming back for another spell. Keep Shahid on if he bowls well and switch Shoaib with Waqar. If Shahid has a bad 3-4 over spell, replace him with Saqlain. Then have him come back for the rest of his overs with Wasim for another spell.

The above mentioned ideas are suggestions to maximize the chances of Pakistan team to win. Unless the batting improves that is not going to happen. I am not too concerned about the game against India as the law of averages will probably catch up with India. However, I am concerned about the game against Zimbabwe as they fought much better than we did against Australia. Had they taken Gilchrist’s catch early in the innings it would have been a different game. India looks like a good side when their batting clicks. They will play Pakistan on a great batting track so the chances are that their batting will definitely do well if they bat first but chasing maybe a different story. Losing Tendulkar early may cause them to capitulate. I have not seen anything in the way Pakistan has batted to suggest that we will go anywhere even if we win our last three games and qualify. England looked very good in their game against Pakistan but I daresay that their bowling will look ordinary against Australia because the batters in that game will not just prod outside off but rather lay back and slash through point. Australia has a great advantage with lots of left handers in the team. In Pakistan’s first match, we were not competitive owing to bad strategy. In our third game our batting was downright pathetic although the strategy was better. We will get it right some day but getting it right consistently is the key. We are backed to a wall in a corner. We were in that position in 1992 and came out growling. Australia were in that spot in 1999 and they came out growling. I have a feeling that the teams, which have not performed well so far, as in South Africa & Pakistan still have a lot to show in this world cup. There needs to be a leader in the team that grabs everyone by the neck and wrings some life into their veins. Is the memory of a retired legend of 1992 going to haunt Waqar? Is the memory of a late legend going to haunt Pollock? I can only repeat a phrase I have quoted many a time, “Adversity is an opportunity for Heroism”.