Whenever an India-Pakistan game is played, it is a game of nerves and whoever handles it better wins.
In the World Cup semi-final at Mohali, attacking mindset was the recipe to success but Pakistan, despite being in the driving seat at one point, gradually lost some footing which eventually cost them the game.I, for one, felt that the aggressive approach in the captaincy was missing on part of Shahid Afridi and he should have attacked more when India lost a few quick wickets in mid-innings.
Traditionally, quality cricket is associated with an Indo-Pak encounter, but this time around I was disappointed with the class of cricket displayed by both the teams.
To start with, M.S. Dhoni made a mistake by including Ashish Nehra in the line-up. He is clearly over the hill and some of his deliveries were not even reaching the wicket-keeper on the full. Unfortunately, the Pakistani batsmen didn’t get him by the collar and were rather subdued, for reasons best known to them.India applied the right approach by attacking from the beginning but the brilliance of Wahab Riaz brought Pakistan back into the game. Though we spilled around half a dozen chances, yet India was restricted to 260 which, I think, were quite gettable on the Mohali track.
Pakistan openers started well but I believe the match slipped out of their hands in the first 15 overs. The difference of 29 runs between the two teams in the first 15 overs was the difference in the end — India 99/2, Pakistan 70/2.
The rash stroke from Mohammad Hafeez was an absolute shocker, to say the least. Even a club cricketer would not have opted for it. He has been playing in all three formats but is not exactly a team-player when it comes to batting in pressure situations. On most such occasions he attempts a pre-planned stroke, falters and creates an unnecessary crisis for the team.
Since long the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been introducing different opening combinations but it is high time they reverted to the basics.Look at the good teams around us such as India and Sri Lanka. Their batting success is mainly due to the foundation laid by their openers in key matches. Kamran Akmal was given a role to start the innings because of his batting skills but the idea flopped.
I am a firm believer in regular practices and feels that specialist opening batsmen should be picked for the slot. In the domestic circuit players like Azhar Ali, Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif and others have been performing quite well but have failed to find a place in the ODIs. Our domestic system has lately produced fine players like Mohammad Aamir, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq and Wahab Riaz and to make proper use of the talent available, the policy of merit is the need of the hour.
Moving on, the batting order was not right either in the semi-final, as well as in the previous games. Right from the beginning of the competition the order was flawed. In the absence of Mohammad Yousuf, who deserved a place in the side, Younis and Misbah should have batted at number three and four respectively.
In Mohali, Misbah-ul-Haq’s approach was quite perplexing. Even an under-16 kid would have batted better then the 36-year old Misbah. And let me tell you that the Indian skipper Dhoni was very cautious too in his batting style and was not able to hit the ball the way he often does when the chips are down.
As for our batsmen, they continuously failed to impress in this tournament and none could play a long, decisive innings which bore any stamp of authority. While most of them have the skills, they tend to lose their senses in crunch situations and simply forget the art of maneuvering the innings.
What we need is a proper batting coach who can devise strategies accordingly. I don’t want to advocate a certain name here, its PCB’s prerogative to hire one from Pakistan or abroad, but we should have one sooner than later.
In the end, the much talked about aspect, which has been letting the team down since long, is off course the wicketkeeping of Kamran Akmal. I have said a lot about his physique and technique in the past and don’t want to repeat myself. To put it simply, he should be given a break now.
The overall performance of the team was satisfactory in the mega event and that must be commended, particularly in the backdrop of a series of nasty scandals that all but made us a bunch of no-hopers for the World Cup.
— The writer is a former Pakistan captain.
