Daily Times

With Pakistan’s 3-2 series triumph over Sri Lanka in the recent One Day International (ODI) cricket series, a nine-year drought against the Sri Lankans ends. For the team’s all-weather fans like myself, who have been following cricket very keenly ever since the famous 1992 World Cup victory in Australia, it is almost impossible to overlook this memorable victory of a young, developing Pakistani side. Let us try to find out the reasons for this change of fortune for Pakistan’s ODI outfit, which was thrashed earlier by Bangladesh in a humiliating 3-0 whitewash in April.
First and foremost, the new skipper, Azhar Ali — one of the few reliable and consistent batsmen over the past few years — seems to have settled down as captain. Ever since assuming his role as captain he has not only led the team from the front, averaging over 50 runs in every innings, he has also promoted himself up the order, solving the team’s old, agonising opening problem. During the recently concluded ODI series, both Azhar Ali and Ahmed Shahzad, averaging in the mid-40s, provided a solid opening platform, ensuring that the middle order is not exposed to the new moving and seaming ball.
Azhar as a captain looked much more relaxed and positive. This positive attitude was not only visible in his batting where he scored runs at a decent strike rate of 82 but also in his field placement and bowling changes. He used his bowlers intelligently, always looking to get opponents out rather than containing the opposition. Azhar also seems to have inherited the ‘Misbah effect’ — the cool, calm, serene, honest and disciplined focus on cricket — all the time keeping himself away from dirty politics.
During the past few years, Pakistan’s batting in the ODIs has been awful, with batsmen technically all over the place and having no consistency whatsoever. However, against Sri Lanka, a major turnaround in batting was witnessed as seven Pakistani batsmen managed to score runs at an average of 40 or above with one century and eight 50s between them. In the recent past, the team has also been guilty of playing 90s-era old-fashioned cricket, preserving wickets, scoring almost nothing significant in the early overs and then trying to cut loose in the last 10.
Modern one day cricket has changed drastically, with 300 runs in an innings becoming a par score and all the world’s top batsmen having strike rates of over or around 100. With the inclusion of wicketkeeping batsmen Sarfraz and Mohammed Rizwan, Pakistan has been able to increase the tempo of the game at will. Sarfraz is a special talent when it comes to playing aggressive cricket with a positive intent, giving impetus to the innings on many occasions during the series against Sri Lanka.
Hafeez, Azhar and Shahzad scored the bulk of runs for Pakistan along with Shoaib chipping in with 250-plus scores. Hafeez was phenomenal with both bat and ball until he was barred from bowling after being reported twice in a year for an illegal bowling action. Hafeez topped the batting table with a shining aggregate of 273 with the help of a brilliant 100 and two 50s. Hafeez’s magnificent match wining 103 with the bat and 4/41 with the ball in the first ODI set the tone for Pakistan’s victory over Sri Lanka and earned him a much deserved man-of-the match award.
Although Pakistan’s pace attack, led by giant Irfan, shared 19 wickets, with Rahat Ali being the highest wicket taker for Pakistan in the series (with nine wickets), it was Pakistani spinners with their stranglehold during the middle overs of the Sri Lankan innings that ensured Pakistan’s victory. The pack, led by attacking leg spinner Yasir Shah, shared 15 wickets among them and consistently suffocated the Lankan batsmen during the middle overs.
When it comes to chasing down a target, historically Pakistan is known to be ‘Panicstan’ in the cricketing world due to their modest record as chasers. In a startling change of tactics during the current series, on a few occasions Pakistan opted to chase down the target by putting Sri Lanka in to bat first. And, to the surprise of many, Pakistan managed to chase down the target successfully twice in its three wins against the Lankans. This indeed is a good omen for Pakistan and shows the team’s confidence in facing and performing well in all possible scenarios.
Historically, Pakistanis are not known for their fielding skills. However, during the ODI series against Sri Lanka, except for a few costly misses in the field, Pakistan’s fielding was quite up to the mark. The inclusion of young guns like Imad Waseem, Mohammed Rizwan and Anwar Ali boosted fielding standards as Pakistan showed satisfactory results in catching as well as ground fielding. However, running between the wickets is one area that still needs to be worked on as Pakistan threw away wickets at critical junctures, costing it the match in the last ODI where they lost both Azhar and in-form Sarfraz Ahmed by trying to steal a needless extra run.
With this brilliant series win, Pakistan also fetched much needed rating points required to supersede the West Indies in being ranked at number eight, the last qualifying spot for the Champions Trophy to be played in 2017 in the UK. Prior to the series win against Sri Lanka, Pakistan’s place in the Champions Trophy was in jeopardy as it was ranked at number nine in the International Cricket Council’s (ICC’s) ODI rankings. Eventually, Pakistan will have to ask Zimbabwe to host a triangular ODI series featuring the West Indies, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. The West Indies was courageous enough to gamble its then eighth ranking position by agreeing to play the tri-series but it was Pakistan that backed out of the proposed tri-series once it got the much needed rating points to snatch the eighth ranking position from the West Indies. These negative tactics of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) are hard to understand. The PCB should have shown the same spirit as the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) showed by agreeing to be part of the tri-series to give Pakistan a fair chance to qualify for the Champions Trophy. These negative tactics could cost Pakistan a place in the tournament if the West Indies somehow manages to get three rating points through a bilateral series before September 30, 2015. If the Pakistan team has the ability to beat a number five ranked team (Sri Lanka), theoretically there should not be any issue beating the number nine ranked team (West Indies).
The recent series win against Sri Lanka is the result of team effort and playing positive cricket. The team, still in the rebuilding process under a young captain, performed well in all departments of the game to earn a much-needed victory. The new captain should be given full confidence while the players take adequate time to jell together as a team. Frequent experimentation with the team’s combination should be avoided, only ensuring that Pakistan plays 21st century, modern day, aggressive cricket.

The writer is an IT professional and passionate writer and speaker. He can be contacted at meetkashi514@gmail.com