By SS
March 4 2003

Pakistans Wolrd Cup ended today as their match against Zimbabwe was abandoned due to rain. Overall the team played well below expectations and only managed to beat minnows Namibia and Holland. We went to the World Cup with high hopes and have been left with shattered dreams. Most Pakistani fans knew that this group of players faced an uphill struggle to lift the World Cup trophy on South African pitches and based on recent performances it was always going to be difficult proposition to even reach the semi finals, never mind winning the trophy. However, the manner of the performances, the lack of heart, the lack of fighting spirit, the lack of technique, the lack of thought, the lack of professionalism, the lack of planning, the lack of solidity, is going to be hard to take for all Pakistan fans around the world.

What went wrong ? That is the question on everybodys lips and it doesn’t take a genius to work out what went wrong. In my unbiased opinion the only people responsible for this debacle are the guys out there in South Africa and Zimbabwe. One can critcise Wasim Bari or Tauqir Zia, but at the end of the day, Wasim Bari and Tauqir Zia are not the ones who pad up and score the runs, they are not the ones who bowl at the opposition and they are not the ones who chop and change the composition of the team every match.

Form and confidence are two key elements required for a team to play to its potential. Unfortunately too many of the Pakistani players had neither the form to play to their ability nor the confidence. Let me use the example of South Africa, players of the caliber of Kirsten, Kallis, Boje, Klusener and Donald lost their form and confidence and thus the South Africans will be watching the rest of the tournament from their living rooms. Similarly, Pakistan had Inzamam, Youhana, Afridi, Waqar, Razzaq and Shoaib contributing very little when it was required. A squad in a tournament such as the World Cup can afford to carry one or two players, but when you have 5 or 6 players struggling, then you are not going to achieve your goals.

Throughout the tournament the Pakistan batting was found to be wanting, as if each player did not know what their role was within the structure. A batting line up is like a group of actors performing a play, each should know their lines and each should be comfortable with their role. Unfortunately it seemed that our batsman all wanted to play the role of the comedian. Time and again we see our major players being out in the same way. It must make the coach want to tear his hair out. Frustration was the name of the game for Pakistani fans as they watched their teams batting line up bat without any urgency and plan, except for the match against India. Players of the experience of Youhana should attempt to play the Bevan role and try to occupy the crease until the end, again and again we see Youhana being out to a lazy shot in the air. Inzamam on whom most hopes rested was the biggest flop of the tournament. It seemed as though the big Multani was batting in a trance.

The batting order was shuffled again and again like a pack of cards, and at times it appeared as though the skipper and the coach were hoping that they could come up with the right batting order through luck rather than judgement. In my opinion when a team is struggling it should resort to its tried and tested methods instead of experimenting.

The much vaunted bowlers also performed below par with only Wasim Akram being able to take any credit from his performances, bar the India match. Waqar seemed to lack any zip in his bowling, Razzaqs cricket throughout the tournament was very mediocre, Afridi was unreliable, Saqlain underused and Shoaib seemed to think he could just blast batsman out, rather than bowl them out through skill and knowhow.

To summarise I would say that the most frightening statistic of this tournament is that our best batsman was Saeed Anwar, our best bowler was Wasim Akram and our wicketkeeper was excellent. Now what have all 3 of these players got in common, yes they are due to retire.

Cricket believe it or not is a relatively simple game and one should play this game to ones strengths. The best modern day players are the ones who try to keep it simple and don’t attempt to come up with shots or deliveries that they know they are not capable of. Example Glen McGrath, simple technique, has a game plan and sticks to it, Bevan, once again plays shots that he is comfortable with, if he hits the ball in the air it will be in safe areas and will be in accordance with his technical strengths. Unfortunately too many of the current crop of Pakistani players want to take a wicket with every ball and want to play big shots that do not reflect the games position or their respective technique.