Pakistan cricket continues to slide downward and pressingly need some pragmatic solution for this severe problem. The other day at Brian Lara Cricket Academy Trinidad, West-Indies cricket team had beaten Pakistan comprehensively in 3rd ODI and this victory also stands on top of their win margin record against Pakistan, setting a target of 295 in allotted 50 overs and then bundled out Pakistan for a trifling and embarrassing 92 all out. Consequently, putting an end to a 34 years dominance of Pakistan cricket against West Indies in ODI bilateral series. West-Indies sealed the series 2-1.
Pakistan taking lead in the first ODI was no less than a miracle in which top 5 batters were already shown the way to pavilion by disciplined West Indian bowlers but the debutant Hassan Nawaz build a match saving partnership with Hussain Talat and scored 63 on 54 balls at an impressive strike rate of 116.6. Whereas, Hussain Talat scored 41 on 37 balls in a match winning partnership.
Earlier in the second, rain hit ODI, Pakistani batters were pathetic notably Skipper Mohammad Rizwan played a beyond imagination innings of 16 Runs on 38 deliveries as if he was playing on some other planet. Again, a 36 runs cameo from Hassan Nawaz at a strike rate of 120 gave them an outside chance, but Pakistan could not score a challenging total and just managed 171/7 in shortened 37 overs match. West-Indies Captain Shai Hope 32 (35), Sherfane Rutherford 45 (33) and Roston Chase 49 (47) kept West-indies alive in the series by acing the chase, specially the knock by Roston chase was phenomenal.
Sometimes, it is really difficult to understand Pakistan’s selection criteria and priority given to non specialists over specialist players in longer format of the game. In T20 format, there is a certain room for experimentation. However, in longer versions, to win games, specialist players are required. One such example is Ignored left arm chinaman wrist spinner Sufyan Muqeem who played a pivotal role in Pakistan’s 3rd T20 win and bowled a match winning spell of 4 overs giving away just 20 runs with an economy of 5.0 and taking 1 wicket. Importantly, his last over of the 3rd T20 spell was 18th over of the innings and spinners often get clobbered in death overs, but he had shown heart and courage and delivered a gem of an over, unarguably a match winning over, why he was not part off the final eleven in 3rd ODI?, specially when West-Indian batters were really struggling against Pakistani spinners. A specialist trio of spinners comprising Abrar, Muqeem and Nawaz might have been the winning recipe or probably the way forward.
Another area of grave concern is Pakistan’s pace bowlers inability to take wickets at crucial stages of the match and their below average speeds. Pakistani pacemen no longer have the same venom for which their predecessors were famous and known for. Shaheen Shah afridi is just 25 years of age, rather than improving and adding more pace to his arsenal, he is averaging between 130-138 kph, even English skipper and all rounder Ben Stokes was clocking 138 Kph in recently concluded Anderson Tendulkar series against India. Whereas, Shaheen is a front line specialist attack bowler. Naseem Shah was taken for cleaners in 3rd ODI against West-Indies and gave away 21 runs in second last over of the innings which is absolutely unacceptable.
Although we are discussing ODI series but another questionable exclusion from the T20 squad against West Indies was left arm seamer Salman Mirza. Mirza was the top wicket taker against Bangladesh in 3rd T20 International victory. He should have been encouraged and rewarded a ODI debut against West Indies, why not think out of the box and give chance to a player who has recently performed so well for the Country.
Taking no credit away from the West Indies, they played so well and outshined Pakistan in ODI’s. West Indian Captain Shai Hope was the top scorer of the series with 207 in 3 matches and an unbeaten 120* (94) in deciding 3rd ODI.
Similarly, Jayden Seales was the stand out bowler of the series with 10 wickets and a career best 6 for 18 in 3rd ODI. Jayden seales bowling figures are third best in ODI by a West Indian bowler and best against Pakistan in ODI format outperforming Dale Steyn’s 6 for 39 in 2013.
The challenge ahead for Pakistan coach Michael James Hesson is to make Pakistan an all format competitor side and that could only be done by selecting a match winning bowling line up, be it 3 specialist spinners and 2 specialist pacers or vice versa. Bits and pieces players are not going to win matches for Pakistan.
