It was the same wicket, same ball, same day, same weather and as expected, Indian bowlers had a field day in Colombo against Pakistan. Preceding that, our bowlers, including our “Premium Fast Bowler”, were thrashed all around the ground. As usual, the wicket turned against us mid-way; an excuse which can never be understood. Babar and other batsmen didn’t, but demons came into play, and we suffered a spineless defeat. Pakistan’s recurring failures against India on the biggest ICC stages have deepened a psychological scar for us. Rest in peace, the once hyped rivalry, you are no more. In the 2019 ODI World Cup at Manchester and again in the 2023 edition at Ahmedabad. Pakistan succumbed to intense pressure on both occasions, failing with the bat and ball. The pattern continued in the 2024 T20 World Cup in New York, where a modest target slipped away despite favourable conditions, reinforcing concerns about Pakistan’s game play under pressure.
In these fixtures, the team’s senior pillars, Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi, were expected to set the tone; Babar through authoritative top-order run getting and Shaheen through early breakthroughs with the new ball. Instead, Babar’s contributions lacked match-defining weight in crunch moments, and Shaheen did not consistently produce the devastating spells that once tilted contests in the 1990s for us. India’s overarching dominance in cricket over its arch-rivals is stamped now.
Shaheen Shah Afridi rose rapidly from a teenage debutant in 2018 to Pakistan’s frontline fast bowler in ICC tournaments, leading the new-ball attack by the 2019 ODI World Cup at just 19 years old, collecting 34 wickets across the 2019 and 2023 editions, alongside 27 wickets in three T20 World Cups between 2021 and 2024. He unfortunately sustained a nagging knee injury during the 2022 T20 World Cup final, after which he was not able to find his momentum. His inconsistency, especially against India in major ICC events, has been a major factor in Pakistan’s defeats as he has been thrashed left, right and centre and has afforded India dream starts.
Since Afridi’s debut in 2018, Pakistan’s pace stocks have included a long list of right-arm fast bowlers such as Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Wasim Jr, and Ihsanullah, alongside left-armers like Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz and later emerging options like Salman Mirza. Of these, only a handful have managed sustained multi-format careers in the same period. Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz retired, Hasan Ali has played all formats, but with fluctuating success, Haris Rauf has seemed to be performance-oriented in franchise cricket only; the reasons for which need to be analysed. Naseem Shah’s fitness remains dicey and liable to frequent breakdowns. He had secured his place on the reserve’s bench in high-pressure games in the recent past. Lack of institutional support and mentoring saw many fade away prematurely. A case in point is Shahnawaz Dhani, whose quest to be a showman on social media took the better of him.
In addition to players’ power, the overall domestic cricket structure has miserably failed to identify and hone the talent available at the national level.
Babar Azam entered international cricket in mid-2015 and rubbed shoulders with seniors like Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, gradually becoming the linchpin of Pakistan’s batting. His performances in ICC tournaments, however, remained inconsistent in the long run. He was Pakistan’s most reliable batter in the 2019 ODI World Cup and productive again in the 2021 T20 World Cup, yet in subsequent events, he has struggled to produce dominant, match-defining innings against top opposition. Babar Azam failed to produce a higher strike rate in the 2025 edition of the ICC Champions Trophy. His repeated failures to stand up in a big match, knock-out stage, under pressure, is a question which raises many eyebrows.
Over the last decade or so, Pakistan’s batting bench has included players such as Shan Masood, Muhammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, and Abid Ali (before his health issues), and more recently youngsters like Mohammad Haris (who rotates in and out of white-ball squads) and Saim Ayub. The above-mentioned number is not only less but also bereft of consistency and reliability.
The perturbing question is whether the depletion of the overall bench strength of the team has overburdened Babar and Shaheen, or if it is the other way around. Public opinion, however, is tilted towards the latter. The player power, in cohort with flawed selection priorities, is responsible for the lack of backup bench strength. In addition to players’ power, the overall domestic cricket structure has miserably failed to identify and hone the talent available at the national level. Accountability of the selectors is a glaring missing link in this complete management chain. Instead of roaming around with the team on foreign tours, they should focus on talent hunt at the domestic level. The problem also seems to be compounded owing to the variety of formats in which international cricket is played, but then high-profile and heavily paid professional cricketers are expected to evolve. The cricket board should ensure effective workload management to obviate injuries and burnout.
Historically, it has been believed that our players secure their slots in the team more through their lobbies than their performances. Of late, fathers, fathers-in-law and peers have also emerged as major influences on selections and prolonged runs despite a string of poor performances. They are believed to provide for the fulcrum of captaincy through the formation of splinter groups within the team. Half-fit players have been picked up in the national squad in the past. Players have even resorted to calling on political leaders to seek a place in the team. The debate on domestic cricket structure is a black hole so far, failing to identify and address chronic issues. Our players’ mindsets lack toughness, which needs immediate redressal. A new look team is the need of the hour as it is high time for old guards to stand down and give way to fresh blood, irrespective of the stage our team progresses to, after the debacle in Colombo.
The writer is a freelance columnist and can be reached at zulfiqar.shirazi @gmail.com