Daily Times

LAHORE: Against expectations, Pakistan averted a whitewash when they downed England by four wickets in the fifth and final ODI of the five-match series at Cardiff on Sunday. Though England won the series 4-1, it was a consolation victory for Pakistan who performed poorly in the previous four encounters to show that they were incapable of playing modern 50-over one-day cricket. Pakistan achieved their sixth-highest successful ODI chase to avoid clean sweep. Sarfraz Ahmed led the way with 90 from 73 balls during a record fourth-wicket stand as he and Shoaib Malik finally provided the fibre lacking through so much of the series for the tourists, as they overhauled a target of 303 with four wickets and 10 balls to spare.

Pakistan drew the preceding four Test series with England 2-2 to rise to number one in the world Test rankings. By contrast they are a lowly ninth in the ODI table, with the 1992 champions in danger of failing to qualify automatically for the 2019 World Cup in England. They will return to England for next year’s Champions Trophy and with a hope they learn quickly from their recent defeats. While a World Cup without Pakistan remains unlikely, it is by no means unthinkable. This is a scenario that will frighten both their legions of loyal fans and ICC chiefs who could see their showpiece tournament deprived of a money-spinning match between Pakistan and arch-rivals India. Pakistan have a tough schedule as they try to improve their ranking, with the ICC system also factoring into account the quality of a team’s opposition.

The ODI series in England has been very disappointing for skipper Azhar Ali and his charges, who saw Pakistan concede a world record total of 444 for three in the third ODI at Trent Bridge. The way Pakistan batted and bowled in the series was not only below par but highly deplorable. They have also shown to all and sundry that they are standing at the same place where they were when the World Cup concluded Down Under in 2015. Teams do make mistakes but they learn from them to turn the tables around. That is what England have done following their embarrassing first-round exit at last year’s 50-over World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. England transformed themselves by changing their mentality and thinking to pass their upcoming tests with flying colours. England proved a phenomenal cricket team, power-hitters all the way down. In brief, they simply changed their fortunes with aggressive and positive cricket.

To be a bona fide international cricketer in this day and age one needs to be able to adapt to conditions in Australia, conditions in England, conditions in the South Africa and conditions in subcontinent, wherever you play. And that adaptability is something that needs to be reviewed because some of Pakistan players are adapting and some aren’t. It is generally agreed that it is Pakistan’s batting that has let them down in recent times. Their bowling has always been seen as being among the better attacks in the world. Pakistan are unique amongst the subcontinental countries. While teams like India and Sri Lanka produce world class spin bowlers, the green shirts prefer to breed quicks. Gentlemen with robust shoulders that hurl a package of thunderbolts and fear. Whatever force is behind it, it starts early. Pakistan quicks don’t mature or get better with age. They start at their peak. They debut as teenagers. They have no patience to learn their craft. They don’t need to. They are already born with it.

But it is unbelievable that Pakistan failed in both departments miserably in the ODI series. Throughout the series, Pakistan weren’t really in the hunt since the much vaunted bowling attack was also lacking the cutting edge of the past which ensured that the team remained competitive despite largely lackadaisical batting. In brief, Pakistan were simply atrocious. Fans across the word are still in disbelief. How had Pakistan just conceded the largest score in the history of the international 50-over game? How had a side famed for its bowling done worse than even any Associate side had managed in ODIs? The 4-1 defeat in the series is indeed too much to swallow.

Pakistan have hit a low from which a return seems to be an uphill task in the near future. Pakistan should seriously contemplate their ‘ancient’ playing methods. If this ODI side have to progress, then they should adopt the modern game plan. And the horror show, the ODI series, screams loudly why Pakistan are one of the low rankings teams on the International Cricket Council table. Pakistan are most likely to lose their number one Test ranking in October. Nothing they do can affect this. It is just how the system works. India will ask for the Test mace to be returned. But it will have been an amazing six or seven weeks. With the world watching in 2016, Pakistan couldn’t win even a single Olympic medal. With the world watching in 2016, Pakistan reached a sporting high never before seen in that country. At the same time, the world also watched Pakistan performing pathetically in the England ODI series. Teams don’t become the best in the world overnight. It takes many things. Culture, support staff, a helpful board, hard work, fast bowlers, skillful batsmen and luck. Head coach Mickey Arthur hasn’t shied away from some honesty during this series – he termed the all matches ‘eye-opener’, which could mean bad news for a number of players – and sees next year’s Champions Trophy in England as a significant target amid the rebuilding.

Pakistan doesn’t usually value their coaches. Pakistan coaches are just a commodity. They exist, but not to guide the team. No one is listening. It seems the coach is there because other countries have them. It is the done thing. It is for appearances. Personalities like Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik and Ahmad Shahzad and some other players don’t need others to teach them anything. So much so that there have been 28 coaches since that 1992 World Cup victory. That’s more than one per year. In this country, it’s always personal honour and ego. And this personal honour and ego are everything. Country, motherland is a secondary thing.

The globe is focused on ODI cricket. Winning ODIs matters now. Pakistan’s one-day predicament has deep roots and rather than flaying just the current squad members or showing them the door, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) must track down the origins of the malaise. A number of capable and brave players curb their natural game before losing the plot – and eventually their spots – in the team. Pakistan needs induction of those brave players who have suffered due to inconsistent selections and confused game plans despite starting their careers promisingly. We need to make them part of our long-term plan and see where we can utilise them efficiently. The role of a captain in cricket is also very different from any other sport. The captain in cricket is a leader, a role model, an inspiration, a thinker, a strategist, and a tactician all rolled into one. Pakistan’s laxity in selecting its captains has also pulled the game down. Pakistan not only needs an ODI skipper with vision, charisma, and the killer instinct but also those players who could perform consistently abroad and not only in the UAE. Many Pakistan skippers, without naming anyone, in the last decade or so have all been a disservice to Pakistan cricket either because of their ineptitude or through their malice and shenanigans. Look how Saurav Ganguly transformed Indian cricket and how MS Dhoni has taken it to another level.

The selectors must develop a pool of players suited to modern requirements. The PCB needs to concentrate on Under-19 and ‘A’ team tours, send the young players out to play under different conditions so that a bank of players is created. For every player in the national team, there should be one waiting in the wings. This should be an in-built mechanism. We must build a culture where no player gets overconfident or complacent after playing a few good innings. Every player must know there is competition for his place in the team and if he does not deliver consistently up to the required standards, he will be rested.

Look at sports like ice hockey, football and tennis in Europe and America: Thousands of boys start playing sports as little kids, before they are even in kindergarten. From that point on there are leagues for every age class, and at each of those levels, players are sifted and sorted and evaluated. The most talented are separated out to be groomed for the next level. By the time the players are 15 to 16 years of age, the very best of the best have been channelled into an elite league. You can’t buy your way into elite leagues. It doesn’t matter who your parents are or who your grandparents were or how much money or connections your family has. Nor does it matter if you live in the most far-flung corner of the most northerly province. If you have the ability, the system will reward you. In fact this is how most sports pick their future stars. It’s the way sport is organised in Europe and America and it’s the way the Olympic athletes are chosen and groomed in most countries. This is also the way the elite educational systems pick their future scientists.

In the world of cricket this is the way a tiny country like Sri Lanka continues to produce highly competitive cricketers to consistently punch well above its weight in the sport. If you shine at the school level in Sri Lankan cricket you remain under the spotlight. Success in Sri Lankan cricket is based on individual merit – the two words alien to Pakistan. Players are judged on their own performance and not on anyone else’s. There is something profoundly wrong with the way we run the game in Pakistan and make sense of talent. How much talent goes wasted without ever being spotted?

We don’t give talent its run, only connections can survive failure. Otherwise we prematurely write off players as failures. We are too much in awe of those who succeed and far too dismissive of those who fail. Pakistan’ ubiquity of passion for the game alone will not suffice to keep us competitive. We so profoundly personalise success and miss opportunities to lift others onto the top rung. Our cricket crazy public has not the remotest idea of who – except for irresistibly gifted ones – makes and who doesn’t and why. The whole fabric of the game is woven around personal interests and compromises. Almost every day we hear analyses from cricket pundits in Pakistan that the standard of the game in Pakistan is going down because of the lack of international cricket in the country. This is, indeed, very far from the truth. If the international isolation alone could be held accountable, then can anyone explain how South Africa re-emerged from the same level after about 22 years of complete isolation at all levels? Pakistan has known nothing like that.

It is all about the way the game is run in the country. One doesn’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out what the problem is with Pakistan ODI cricket. It’s now time for deep introspection – everybody involved with Pakistan cricket will need to decide what direction they want the sport to go. The need of the hour is to bring Pakistan cricket into line with the rest, best and the latest aspects of modern cricket as the game has changed a lot in recent years. Even the best of players cannot win without strategic strength as all team games need to have excellent pre-emptive and offensive strategies worked out scientifically. And for that we need those selectors, coaches and managers who are thorough professionals with a solution to the predicament. The present PCB management needs to handle the complexities and problems with an iron hand to transform and modernise Pakistan ODI cricket. The PCB, with Shaharyar Khan and Najam Sethi at the helm, has to find the right people to run the sport, people of integrity, independence and vision, capable of implementing plans that will halt the decline in Pakistan ODI cricket.