Pakistan crumble under pressure yet again

The Pakistan team dished out an appalling performance at Cape Town, casting gloom over an entire nation of passionate cricket. It was not just the defeat, but rather the manner in which it came about that has infuriated all and sundry. The batting line-up failed yet again, proving their incompetency against the swinging ball, something that has been highlighted over the past couple of years. There is no point in making excuses this time, by blaming the conditions under lights at Cape Town. It would be fair to say that batting became a bit tougher under lights, but certainly not difficult enough to warrant the display put up by the Pakistan batting line-up. At the same time full marks to the England bowlers who kept a tight line and deservingly used the conditions to their advantage.

Pakistan is a team that consistently throws itself at the mercy of the toss, with a chance of victory only culminating in the event of batting first. The batsmen can only be described as "paper tigers", simply resting on the laurels of their past achievements. The decision to persist with Shahid Afridi was mind-boggling.

In the past six months there has hardly been an occasion where he has crossed the 30 run threshold while starting off the innings. Of greater surprise is that the decision was made at the expense of Saleem Elahi, the only batsman to have showed any proficiency with the bat in the tournament so far. The team management must answer one critical question: is Afridi worth being included for just his bowling capabilities? I believe that he is not a good enough batsman, and picking him as a specialist sixth bowler is ludicrous.

The news regarding Inzamam in the media, prior to this match, was even more shocking, where it was announced that he refused to participate in practice as that would make him "more hungry for runs" in the matches, a theory credited to Imran Khan. It was said he tried that on batsmen who were out of form on the field but fine in the nets and the stories say it worked.

Surely, if something is going wrong, the net sessions are the ideal place to iron it out, not the match! Saeed Anwar looked scratchy all through, falling over consistently, and was lucky not to have been bowled behind his legs or found leg before much earlier. Youhana got out to a magical delivery, but one fails to understand why he was looking to play his first delivery through mid-wicket, under such evidently bowler friendly conditions? The only thing that brought a smile to the faces of Pakistani fans was the lusty hitting by Shoaib Akhtar at the end, but the match was all over by then.

The performance in the field, could be described as two extremes, swinging from brilliance to total disarray. Shoaib Akhtar may have finally proven to the world that he is capable of breaching the 100 mile an hour barrier, but it came at the expense of a wayward and indisciplined spell. His famous yorker was nowhere to be seen, something that has brought him much glory in the past.

There are no complaints regarding captaincy on the field though, Waqar kept ringing in the changes and it worked most of the time. Restricting the opposition to 246 on a placid pitch was a reasonable effort, though the bowlers could have wrapped up the innings for under 200 had they shown some urgency. However, in view of the batting performance that may have not been enough anyway.

After this crushing defeat Pakistan have nowhere to hide, they must win all their remaining matches (by good margins too), pray for rain to stay away and basically hope for a miracle. The net run rate has been badly damaged by this performance, and in the event of a tie in the points column, Pakistan are likely to suffer either way. If Australia forfeit their match against Zimbabwe, that might deal the killer blow to any remaining chances that Pakistan has.

The management needs to re-think their policy yet again. The opening slot requires two genuine batsmen, and at the moment Saleem Elahi is badly needed. Anwar may look in some sort of form, but we have limited options, so they will have to stick with him. The decision to drop Inzamam will be a hard one, but it is time to make this tough call, maybe he will be hungrier to bat well again?

I consider it pointless to pick individuals on past reputation as it doesn't get the team anywhere in the present situation. If Pakistan somehow manage to squeeze their way to the Super Six, maybe Inzamam might be geared up for the challenge at that point. That leaves Taufeeq Umer as the only option, and the team will have to figure out where to slot him in the batting order. Youhana needs to get in at three, and there are no two ways about it!

At this point in time its hard to have a positive outlook on future games, but there is a lot to play for, and pride is right at the top of that agenda!

Ed: If readers wish to correspond with the author, please email Taha Noor