Morale was already down, planning was not done, home work was not complete, players were not prepared and much more. So when such is a case, you can’t except something out of your team.
In its second match, Pakistan has lost to Ireland that is new to cricket and playing its first worldcup. Pakistan could only score a miserable total of 132 runs which was never sufficient with a poor bowling attack consisting of Umar Gul, Rao Iftekhar, Azhar Mahmood and Muhammad Sami. IreLand won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first and it looked like Pakistani batsmen had lost hope along with the toss. It has’t happened for the first time anyway but it was for the first time against such a new comer. Though Pakistan has been a part of upset of Bangla Desh match in 1999 World Cup as well but it was a special case.
Irish team had planned every thing according to batting abilities of Pakistanis. They bowled very well though conceded a few extras but their fielding was a key factor that helped bowlers a lot. Fielders were too keen and enthusiastic that they not only stopped certain boundaries and stopped certain runs but took some wonderful catches as well. They had targeted the weak areas of all the batsman and Pakistani batting line up just collapsed without resistance.
Ok, we are now out of world cupand team would be back very soon. What we need to do is to reconsider our abilities and resources. Though Pakistan was out of 2003 World Cup in similar passion but they never planned for future and results are before your again. Just blaming the senior players and dismissing them, blaming the curators for making a deadly pitch and hiring a foreign coach at extraordinarily higher cost are not solutions.
Some big problems that Pakistani Cricket is facing for a quite long time are:
- Opening pair
- Green and Grassy Pitches
- Poor coaching arrangements.
- Poor Fielding
- Wrong selection of squad/team/playing order
Opening Pair:
After Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar, Pakistan has tested a large number of openers but could not set up a useful pair. Some of players who gave performance were not properly utilized and coached to be in form in international cricket and mostly whose players were not given chance who had performed in domestic cricket.
Green and Grassy Pitches:
Its been a tradition that whenever Pakistani team comes across a Green and Grassy track they become senseless and loose hope. They find it granted that they don’t need to work hard here and all is over now. To get players familierize with such tracks, there must be made some South African styly pitches where playes can practice from start of their carriers.
Poor Coaching Arrangements :
When a players comes in international cricket, his first year is usually very easy for him and he does perform in early stages but after his weaknesses are noted worldwide then its function of coaches to remove those errors that are made by the player. We are having a very bad coaching style here. Bob Woolmer who is present coach is a batsman and we are having a lot of problems in our batting abilities. We have seen that PCB employees some bowlers as coach and then just get them away from their duty. There must be a system in this regards.
Poor Fielding:
Fielding has been a main factor in many defeats of Pakistan over the past 5 years. Pakistani players don’t show enough courage to dive to stop some runs. Though situation has got batter over some time but easy catches are dropped and runs are conceded due to fumbling. Hiring a very good fielder at very high salary for 14 days is not a proper solution. Fielding needs a mind set and that can be built from younger ages.
Wrong selection of squad/team/playing order:
Team is often select on name and fame basis. Big players who are not performing can’t be given rest. Those who perform in domestic are often dropped. There are many examples. Asim Kamal is one of many. When a team is in ground why batting order is not as it should be. Shoiab Malik who has performed well at one down and has been a scoring player at opening position is at number 6 and the captain who must be leading from front, coming at least on number 3.
keeping this story short, Welcome Pakistani Team back to your home, hope you’ll not be coming soon and would flee to other countries get some time passed and Good Bye Inzi from International cricket. Its a real sad end of your carrier but your fans are not responsible rather you people are responsible for heart breaking.