Pakistani cricket hero cult needs a quick death – Newspaper

WHAT is Pakistan’s strategy in 50 cricket? The question that provided the answer was when Pakistan went unchanged after two miserable defeats to the reserves of England after two dead defeats. But the last ODI at Edgbaston proved to be a point and qualifier for the 50-match World Cup in 2023 rather than laying the foundation for future success.

Pakistan was confused in the first two ODI games in Cardiff and Lords, but failed to score 200 points in each inning. The performances revealed an unpleasant truth about the relative merits of the two fighters: England’s bench strength in 50 crickets is currently as deep as that of Pakistanis. While Pakistanis strike fortunes around Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, England can invite any number of extreme players and continue to rule.

Between Babar and Rizwan, they got 70 percent of Pakistani runs in Edgbaston, and they did so with great style and complete control. The pitch was good, and they pulled, drove, and found flawless consistency to get into Third Gate Division 179. It was a partnership that restored the credibility of some of the teams, but the overall performance did little to quell doubts for the rest of the line.

In addition to India, only the top seven countries have been set to qualify for the 2023 ICC tournament, so Pakistan needs all the wins in the 50 matches. This will inevitably limit the scope for experimentation, but Pakistan needs to find a way. The keys are inconsistent, and the average size did not produce significant inner mountains or late runs in England.

While bowling looks strong on paper, only Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali look like fixed choices. Haris Rauf still has some way to prove he’s more than a T20 bowler, and Shadab Khan hasn’t yet embarked on a diverse international career. It’s hard to imagine that Faheem Ashrafs ’Medium Pace has been made for India’s success.

The elephant in the room is a burden to Babar. Managing and carrying a punch in three forms takes its toll. If the formula doesn’t press his shape and dull his edge, Babar is indeed a rare cricket. Although he leads the list in the ICC’s ODI batting rankings, Babar has already dropped to the overall 10th place in the test rankings. Because of Babars and Pakistan’s cricket, the cricket board must absolve him of at least one of these captain’s responsibilities.

A similar thing, to a lesser extent, also troubles Rizwan, who is asked to hold in every play and play a significant second violin in Babars ’first string. Here, the answer is even simpler when Sarfaraz Ahmed is able to offer some rotation. If Babar and Rizwan end up on fire, what’s left?

The Pakistan Cricket Board then has a lot to do. And it didn’t learn much new from the English ODI series, except that Saud Shakeel can anchor the innings and offer a convenient alternative to being the sixth bowler.

Can Misbah-ul Haq and Waqar Younis solve these problems, it is not clear? At its best, Misbah has a variable record of ODI values, and the expected correlation between Waqars coaching work and an increase in Pakistani bowling power has not occurred.

In all of these things, Pakistani cricket does not follow its ancient strategy: the cult of the hero. Find a good man, a hero and give him the best job. However, it is better to give him more than one top job; give him two or even three. The rest take care of themselves, says magical thinking.

Unfortunately, experience teaches us otherwise. The skills required to become a great player provide the skills needed to become a great captain. And the skills needed to become a great player or captain are the same as those required to become a great coach. The result is usually the destruction of a career or a reputation.

It was only recently that Pakistani cricket placed too much of a burden on Sarfaraz. Now he hardly deserves a choice. At the same time, Misbah was made the chairman and coach of the elections in all its forms without experience of either role at the international level. Maybe hell is gone from all these jobs by 2023?

For decades, the success of Pakistani cricket has depended too heavily on the qualities of a few good men, the cult of the hero. The cult is brazen, and the circuit board should seriously consider dividing the captain and coaching responsibilities into all three forms, as the gaps in individual strategies are too blatant and too tenacious to be closed by an endless reconstruction process.

Otherwise, Pakistan will have to struggle in the current situation to reach the 2023 Indian World Cup, a failure that would be an unprecedented disaster.

Published in Dawn on July 15, 2021