Page 26 - Pakistan Link - July 16, 2021

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P26 – PAKISTAN LINK – JULY 16, 2021 COMMENTARY
Pakistan Cricket’s Cult of the Hero Is in Need of a Quick Death

n By Kamran Abbasi record in ODIs at best, and the
expected correlation between
hat is Pakistan’s strat- Waqar’s coaching stints and an
egy in 50-overs crick- uplift in Pakistan’s bowling perfor-
Wet? It’s a question that mance hasn’t transpired.
begged an answer when Pakistan In all these matters, Pakistan
went unchanged for a ‘dead’ rub- cricket is defaulting to its age-old
ber after two dismal defeats to strategy: the cult of the hero. Find
England’s reserves. But the final a good man, a hero, and give him
ODI at Edgbaston turned out to the top job. Better still give him
be more about proving a point, more than one top job; give him
and qualification points for the two, or even three. The rest will
50-overs World Cup in 2023, take care of itself, says the magical
than laying the foundations for thinking.
future success. Unfortunately, experience
Pakistan were embarrassed in teaches us otherwise. The skills
the first two ODI games at Cardiff required to become a great player
and Lord’s, failing to score 200 in aren’t the skills required to become
either innings. The performances a great captain. And the skills re-
revealed an inconvenient truth quired to become a great player
about the relative merits of the or captain aren’t the same as those
two combatants: England’s bench required to become a great coach.
strength in 50 overs cricket is The outcome is usually a career de-
currently as deep as Pakistan’s is stroyed or a reputation tarnished.
shallow. While Pakistan’s batting Only recently, Pakistan crick-
fortunes revolve around those et placed too much burden on
of Babar Azam and Mohammad Sarfaraz. Now he barely earns se-
Rizwan, England can call up any middle order didn’t deliver a sub- rankings. For Babar’s sake and for cricket board must relieve him of lection. Misbah, meanwhile, was
number of fringe players and still stantial innings or late runs in at least one of those captaincy re- made chairman of selectors and
dominate. England. In all these matters, sponsibilities. coach in all formats without any
Between them, Babar and While the bowling seems Pakistan cricket is A similar issue, to a lesser experience in either role at inter-
Rizwan, scored 70 percent of Paki- strong on paper, only Shaheen extent, also besets Rizwan, who national level. Perhaps he’ll be out
stan’s runs at Edgbaston, and they Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali look defaulting to its age-old is being asked to keep in every of all these jobs by 2023!
did so in fine style and complete like firm selections. Haris Rauf still strategy: the cult of the game and play a prominent sec- For decades, the success of
control. The pitch was a good one, has some way to go to convince ond fiddle to Babar’s first-string Pakistan cricket has depended
and they pulled, drove, and dabbed that he is more than a T20 bowler, hero. Find a good man, batting. Here, the answer is even too heavily on the qualities of a
with unerring consistency to reach and Shadab Khan is yet to kick on a hero, and give him the more straightforward with Sar- few good men, on the cult of the
a third-wicket stand of 179. It was with his international career as faraz Ahmed able to provide some hero. The cult is floundering, and
a partnership that restored some an allrounder. It’s hard to imag- top job. Better still give rotation. If Babar and Rizwan end the PCB should seriously consider
of the team’s credibility, but the ine that Faheem Ashraf’s medium him more than one top up being burnt out, what’s left? dividing captaincy and coaching
overall performance did little to pace is made for success in India. job; give him two, or even There is much, then, for the responsibilities across all three for-
quell doubts about the rest of the The elephant in the room is Pakistan Cricket Board to address. mats because the holes in the in-
line-up. the burden on Babar. Captain- three. The rest will take And it didn’t learn much new from dividual strategies are too glaring
With India plus only the top ing and carrying the batting in care of itself, says the the England ODI series, other than and too persistent to be excused by
seven ranked nations set to qual- three formats will take its toll. If that Saud Shakeel can anchor an a never-ending process of ‘rebuild-
ify for the 2023 ICC tournament, the formula doesn’t dent his form magical thinking. innings and provide a handy op- ing’.
Pakistan need every win in the and blunt his edge, then Babar is Unfortunately, experience tion as a sixth bowler. Otherwise, as things stand,
50-overs format. That inevitably a rare cricketer indeed. Although Whether Misbah-ul Haq and Pakistan face a struggle to qualify
limits scope for experimentation, he heads the list in ICC’s ODI bat- teaches us otherwise Waqar Younis are capable of re- for the 2023 World Cup in India,
but Pakistan must find a way. The ting rankings, Babar has already solving these conundrums is far a failure that would be an unprec-
openers are inconsistent, and the slipped to joint 10th in the Test the sake of Pakistan cricket, the from clear. Misbah has a mixed edented calamity. – Dawn
Morgan Returns from Isolation to Lead England in Pakistan T20s

irmingham: Eoin Morgan what people are saying and con-
has been cleared to lead centrate on what I’m doing.
BEngland in an upcom- “But Spoons [England head
ing Twenty20 series against coach Chris Silverwood] pulled
Pakistan it was announced on me to the side on Tuesday and
Wednesday after he missed said: ‘You’ve been bowling really
their One-day International well, this call-up is justification
clean sweep following a Cov- for how well you’ve been doing’.
id-19 outbreak within the hosts’ It was nice to hear that.”
camp. The 24-year-old Mahmood
England had to select an twice dismissed Pakistan captain
entirely new squad for the ODIs Babar Azam cheaply, although
against Pakistan after several the world’s top-ranked ODI bats-
players and support tested posi- man struck a career-best 158 at
tive for the coronavirus, with the Edgbaston.
rest of those originally selected Mahmood, however, enjoyed
all forced to self-isolate. bowling to a packed slip cordon
Star all-rounder Ben Stokes with the new ball. “I guess being
was rushed back from a finger in- fearless as a side is always taking
jury to captain the new-look side. the positive option,” he said. “At
The 50-over world champi- times in this series we had three,
ons responded with an impres- four slips consistently and that
sive 3-0 series whitewash of Paki- comes from not worrying about
stan, culminating with a dramatic runs and always trying to take
three-wicket win at Edgbaston wickets.”
on Tuesday that featured James The second T20 takes place
Vince’s maiden England century. at Headingley on Sunday before
Only four of the England ular Dawid Malan keeping his Sam Curran absent as well. Bridge on Friday. the teams head to Old Trafford
players involved in that success place. Lancashire seamer Mah- “It’s been a bit of a special for the final fixture on Tuesday.
have been retained for the three Jos Buttler has also been in- mood made the most of his un- time for me,” Mahmood told re- Squad: Eoin Morgan (cap-
T20 Internationals against Paki- cluded after recovering from a expected opportunity against porters on Wednesday. “A week tain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow,
stan, with Vince omitted. calf injury. Pakistan, with nine wickets at an ago, no one was talking about me Jake Ball, Tom Banton, Jos But-
Saqib Mahmood, Lewis Stokes, however, has been average of just 13.66 seeing him and I wasn’t part of the squad, but tler, Tom Curran, Lewis Gregory,
Gregory and Matt Parkinson rested ahead of the five-match named ODI player-of-the-series. obviously everything has hap- Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone,
have all been included in a 16- Test series at home against India Now he is looking forward to pened very quickly. Saqib Mahmood, Dawid Malan,
man squad after coming to the starting in August, with bowlers maintaining that momentum in a “I’m trying to take it in my Matt Parkinson, Adil Rashid, Ja-
fore in the ODIs, with T20 reg- Mark Wood, Chris Woakes and T20 campaign that starts at Trent stride, not focus too much on son Roy, David Willey.
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