Daily Times

Another staggering defeat on the home ground and yet another reshuffling announcement by the Pakistan Cricket Board.

At this point, it seems that nothing – not even a textbook example of having egg on its face – is capable of knocking some sense into both the players and the management of a team that remains the focus point of a 220-million-strong nation. Match after match, tournament after tournament, we hear our beloved Shaheens offer excuses in place of performance and casting allegations instead of a line of action.

Following the previous pattern to the dot, Captain Shan Masood stood in Multan stadium after a painful test match and distanced himself from the losing streak. According to the skipper, if the batting unit could give in over 500 runs in the first innings, they did not deserve to share the burden of a complacent bowling line-up. Not to sprinkle salt over their wounds, but the team clearly misread the concept of creating history!

Having suffered defeats against England, Australia and, most regrettably, Bangladesh, Pakistan remains the only team that has not scored a test match victory at home in the last two years. But while Masood may thunder without mincing words and grill his bowlers over the coals for failing to do the only thing demanded of them, can he really set aside the troubling statistic that Friday marked the sixth straight loss under his captaincy?

Shouldn’t there be a limit to his honeymoon period? With its unstoppable dash towards the dark corners of cricketing history and the team languishing at the rock-bottom of the international ratings table, it is only a matter of time before others would give up on the revival of once-legends.

More worryingly, cricket, a sport that unites Pakistanis of all colours and political flavours, has already begun to lose its charisma as the audience, largely frustrated with the neverending tunnel, is no longer bothered with any ray of light. Once this melancholy sets in, no streamers or star-studded PSLs can do the trick. *