Daily Times

Ten out of ten for Pakistan women cricketers against India – they played 10 one-day internationals and lost as many. Pakistan women suffered third successive defeat, while playing against India, in the ongoing ICC World Cup in the United Kingdom. India opted to bat first on a surface which wasn;t conducive to stroke play and racked up 169 in the allotted 50 overs. Pakistan batting crumbled like a house of cards as Ekta Bisht sliced through Pakistan batting line-up, claiming 5 for 18. At one stage Pakistan were at meger score of 51 for but then the last wicket stand helped them to reach 74, bringing down the defeat margin below three figures. But this squashing defeat didn’t come as a thunderbolt and was in fact consistent with their recent form and performances and match against England exposed the every aspect of Pakistan’s cricketing capabilities.

After having watched Pakistan women cricketers in action against England in the ongoing World Cup, one wonders why they pitted such flimsy and a namby-pamby side against mighty England? Our cricketers are around for quite a sometime and aren’t novice by any stretch of imagination. Two teams were galaxies apart in prowess and methodology as England tamed them with ease. The gulf between the sides was of astronomical proportion and it seemed as if the PCB sent school girls to stand up to towering challenge of an out-and-out seasoned professional world class team. Akin to their men, Pakistan women team heavily banks on bowling reserves but the slumbering eternal fragility of the bowling line-up was laid bare by unflinching and ever so sturdy English batting.

Last but not the least, batting was yet another weak cog in the wheel of Pakistan. They looked more like tail-enders than specialized accomplished batswomen. No real skill and technique with the bat and dearth of physical fitness weighed them down. No team can survive at the international level without power-strikers but our team doesn’t have one. One can safely conclude that the team is still very much under prepared. Even if cricket management declines to offer requisite training, players themselves can take the initiative to bring about discernable upswing in their performances. The only thing they need to do is to learn from mistakes and try not to repeat them.

Published in Daily Times, July 8^th , 2017.