By Saj
April 1 2004

India totally outplayed Pakistan in Multan to take the early initiative in the 3 test series. Pakistan's below par and at times awful performance was no match for the well organised and disciplined touring side. Well as the inevitable happened this morning, Pakistani fans all around the world and the players themselves were left scratching their heads as they tried to piece together the events of the last 4 and a bit days.

Winning and losing is part and parcel of sport and most genuine fans appreciate that the current team from India are not the pushovers that have quite often met Pakistan in the past. But the major talking point will be the manor of the defeat and the abject surrender from the home team.

Going into the test series Pakistan had back to back wins against South Africa and New Zealand, both more than capable teams with plenty of experience and talent. Pakistan had more than matched the opposition in all departments and deservedly won both series one nil. Hopes therefore were high, even though the Indian team had peeformed very well in Australia, with most pundits and fans predicitng all 3 tests to go to the wire and a very hard fought and close series.

So, what went wrong ? The simple answer to this question is everything ! From losing the toss right down to Yousuf Youhanas lazy pull shot at the end of the match, the whole show was a shambles. Disgust, shame, disappointment, shambolic are the words that are on the lips of Pakistani fans at the moment and one can only guess at what the Pakistani players are going through at the moment.

PakPassioners have quite rightly torn into their team with their forthright and hard hitting views. Selection of the team, the standard of the bowling, the inability to swing the ball, the lethargic captaincy, the body language from all the players, the careless shot selection, the extraordinarily poor catching, the umpiring, the poor running between the wickets, the lack of a gameplan, the lack of research of the opposition are all valid points when one analyses this defeat.

The Indian team had an obvious gameplan with Sehwag being key to their quick scoring and the remaining batsman batting around him. There was obviously no need for Sachin, Laxman and co to force the issue and take risks whilst Sehwag was being handed goodies by the extremely accommodating Pakistani bowling line up. Unfortunately when the bowling improved, the fielding deteriorated and Sehwag was given chance after chance, with Mohammed Samis miss at deep mid wicket costing his team nearly 250 runs. The Indian bowling is not exactly Marshall, Holding, Garner and Roberts, nor is it McGrath, Lee, Gillespie and Warne, they are a decent, disciplined group of bowlers who found themselves in a very healthy position courtesy of their batsmen. What they did was bowl to a plan. Pitch the ball up and make it swing both ways. Irfan Pathan did not try to bowl too fast, he simply found a rhythym, bowled a steady line and length and occasionally surprised the batsmen with a shorter delivery. It was not rocket science from the Indians, but simply good preparation, research of the opposition and playing to a plan and sticking with that plan.

On a wider issue, I find it worrying that the selectors keep going round in circles with their selection policy. Instead of giving one or two fresh faces a decent opportunity, they keep reverting back to over the hill, has-beens. It is unfortunate that I have to resort to such a phrase for players of the calibre of Mushtaq Ahmed and Saqlain Mushtaq, but both have been brought back recently when it is glaringly obvious that their best yeasr are behind them. Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Misbah ul Hq, Naved Latif, Faisal Iqbal are just some of the names that keep disappearing for a while only to be brought back time and again. It is about time the selectors cut their ties with some of these failures and gave fresh impotus to the one day and test squads. I am not adocating whoesale changes but after the Indian series, I think the selectors need to definitley change their ways.

Now for something controversial and painful to some Pakistani fast bowling fans. Where are the young quick bowlers that we so pride ourselves on. Where are the inheritors to Waqar and Wasim, where is the backup to Sami and Shoaib Akhtar. In my opinion Shabbir Ahmed is not the man. He may be a hard working and honest young man, but he is not going to frighten too many batsmen around the world on unhelpful wickets. Are the selectors being harsh on the young quicks in Pakistan by not giving them a chance or are the up and coming quickies simply not good enough ?

It is going to take one helluva job to restore confidence in the Pakistan lineup after such a thrashing, especially given that the second test in Lahore is only 4 days away. Morale will be low and confidence even lower. It is up to the captain and coach to lift their young team and get them to perform to the standard that they are capable of. The most important thing is that they need to get this match out of their systema nd try thie best to forget about it and repay the fans by doing their utmost in the remaining 2 tests.