Strategy and Pakistan’s Fortunes

Let me first get something out of the way. Australia is a much better team than Pakistan. They have proved it time and again. They beat us in the world cup final 1999 batting second and they beat us in the first game of 2003 batting first. Both victories were emphatic. Losing that first game to Australia is not the end of the world or of this tournament for that matter. There is a lot of cricket to be played. It is apparent that Australia has more talent than Pakistan in batting and fielding but what they dominate us by is strategy. It is both better strategy by Australia as well as bad strategy by Pakistan that plays into it. So let us delve into that a little bit more.

First of all, there is no harm in being labeled a team that cannot chase runs because, you know what, that is a true statement. Does that mean we cannot chase any runs against any team in this world? That is not true but we cannot chase a sizeable total against the quality teams of this world. I do not think there is any harm in admitting that. The first step towards solving a problem is to admit that you have a problem. Now let’s look at the possible solution. Of course practicing to chase runs will help a lot. However, how do you start that? You chase runs against lesser opposition when you win the toss. Also, you get your batsmen to chase in side games. You DO NOT start by winning the toss and chasing against the best team in the world!!!! So I thought that was the biggest mistake Pakistan made in the game against Australia.

Secondly, team selection was lacking. How many times do you hear, “defense wins championships”? So it is a fact that great bowling and fielding wins over great batting any day. What is Pakistan’s strength? Everyone will scream out bowling I presume. That would be correct. So we should go into every game with at least 5 specialist bowlers. Not all-rounders but specialist bowlers. So Shoaib, Wasim, Waqar, Razzaq & Saqlain should play every important game. If any one of Shoaib/Wasim/Waqar/Razzaq are not in form or injured, you replace him with Sami or Zahid. Saqqi should play every game because we do not have any other specialist spinner and he is one of the best in the world. If we plan to play a 6th bowler as a backup, which to me is not a bad idea, then Shahid should play because he can bat. Azhar is not a good choice for the team because he is not that great a bat & he is not a specialist bowler either. So I think unless Azhar improves his bowling and batting considerably he should not be in the squad. Pakistan went into the game against Australia with 4 specialist bowlers and Shahid. We should never play any international game with 4 specialist bowlers. That was a huge mistake. I have said many times that if your heart of the batting order namely Inzi, Yousuf and Younis can not do the job, having a 6th batsman coming in after them will not do anything for you. That has been proven right time and again.

Thirdly, captaincy in the field was not up to the mark. There are some cardinal sins in cricket, which should always be avoided. There should never be a time when you have two non-specialist bowlers bowling in tandem. Always keep the pressure with a strike bowler at one end with a makeshift or non-specialist if you have to on the other end. We had Australia on the ropes at 89/4. If we saw that a partnership was developing and we were slow in the over rate…Waqar should have brought Shoaib back earlier to break it with Afridi bowling from the other end. It is always better to be docked an over and have your strike bowlers keep the scoring down by taking wickets, than bowl part timers for the sake of over rate and have them give 7-10 an over. The key was that Razzaq was not bowling well. What should have happened was to give Razzaq a breather, get Shahid in from one end and Shoaib from the other. When Shoaib had bowled a three over spell, get Wasim to come from that end and have Shahid continue or give Razzaq another bowl. So it would have been ok to have Shoaib, Wasim & Waqar bowl their last 3, 3 & 2 over from one end with Shahid, Razzaq or even Younis bowl from the other end. Instead Waqar had Shahid & Younis bowl in tandem and Australia thumped them for 7-10 an over and did not lose any wickets. In addition to that we ended up with Waqar not being able to complete his quota even if his beamer over was not cut short. I thought that was just bad captaincy. They should have kept attacking. In situations like these, I wonder where the coach is who can easily send these instructions with the water boy.

Ok so you are chasing 310, what should you do? The first 15 overs are key of course. There needs to be someone who can come in and have a blast at the top of the order as an opener or pinch hitter. You already have that with Shahid and he cannot play any other way. What do you do? You ask him to play straight!!!!!! I do not understand that. Afridi should have come out all guns blazing from the first ball to knock the Aussie opening pair out of the attack. If he got out early, Akram or Razzaq should have been promoted up the order to do the same. Taufeeq should have been asked to play straight & not Afridi. If Afridi came off, then Elahi should have come in at the fall of the first wicket and play on merit till the 30th over to preserve wickets. I think your best bats should get to play the most overs. I am for sending Inzi at number 3. It would give him more overs to settle in. Also, the team would have lost less wickets at the time so less pressure on him. Inzi, Younis and Yousuf should be able to handle pressure though. It is their job. They have tons of experience. So anyway, this lack of strategy made everything fall apart in the first 15 overs and we had no chance from then on.

The team that they selected against Namibia was good. I am ok with that selection. I think we should play with 5 bowlers. If you do not want to have a 6th bowler then having Saeed, Elahi, Younis, Inzi & Youhana as your specialist bats is fine. They should do the job. I would like Inzi to come at number 3 as Imran Khan says. Look at all the good teams. Their best bats are in the top three with almost no exceptions. Why not Pakistan? Inzi has enough experience to be able to handle that. He would enjoy the challenge I think. Also I would use Akram whenever I can as a pinch hitter. He seems to be in form and it is his last world cup so he is motivated to do something special. Our batting looked very rusty against Namibia too. The top order is not clicking and the main guy is Inzi. I think promoting him to number 3, with Youhana at 4 being the sheet anchor and Younis at 5 coming in & playing freely should be a good ploy. We should try it and stick with it.

There has been a lot of talk about team unity, special treatment to some players and too much trash talk from Pakistanis. Here is the deal. Shut up and play the game. There should be one thing in every players mind and that is to get a W against their name every time they go out to play. The coach & captain need to step in with some strategy. Maximize your strengths and expose the other team’s weaknesses. England’s weakness is that their bowling lacks bite especially if the top two do not take wickets. So Pakistan should try and preserve wickets early on. England’s batting has seldom withstood any early collapse so Pakistan should attack from the word go to get early wickets. England’s bats lack good players of spin so Saqlain needs to come in first change and do the damage against the two left-handers at the top of the order. I do not care if we win or lose but I do care how we play the game. Every players should put a 100% effort and play hard till the last ball is bowled. “Josh ki intihaa chahiyey”!