Where's Pakistan cricket heading to?

Australia beat Pakistan by 2 wickets at the WACA to complete a 5-0 whitewash in the recently concluded ODI series.

It was a highly disappointing series for Pakistan, coming immediately after a 3-0 whitewash in the test series. The batting was highly susceptible in both formats of the game. Pakistan were sitting comfortably on the Sydney test but then succumbed to a surprisingly embarrasing defeat. The bowling however came very good. Asif and Aamer were particularly threatening. Umar Akmal was a revelation displaying tremendous grit in grinding out the Aussie bowlers.

Shahid Afrdi

Even the ODI series saw some good terrific display from the bowlers. Saeed Ajmal was fantastic and Afridi was as usual tricky with his leg-spinners. Younis Khan was inducted into the ODI team and it was good to see him back after a long gap.However, Mohammad Yousuf had to leave the ODI tour midway, probably over team management disputes, thereby weakening the batting attack. Somehow, I feel that the batting was too much reliant on Afridi. The openers never gave a good start. The first 10 overs usually had 3-4 players back in the pavilion. Umar Akmal and Younis Khan played a couple of gritty knocks. So, in the end it was left to Afridi to come in with around 10 overs left and start bashing the bowlers. Needless to say, Afridi lived up to his ‘Boom Boom’ reputaion but hardly stayed at the creae for more than 2-3 overs. The batting strategy was not very flexible and there never seemed to be a backup plan in most of their chases.

The last ODI though did see a good fight. Set a target of 213 to win, the Aussies never seemed comfortable in their run chase. Ponting scored a good half-century, but they lost wickets regularly and the spinners kept a good tight leash. However Australia’s crisis man Hussey saw them through with just 4 balls left. There was some drama during the Aussie innings with a pitch invader running in and tackling down Khalid Latif. There was more suspense as the cameras caught stand-in captain Afridi chewing the ball. Afridi later admitted to the ball tampering charges and was suspended for two T20s. The series loss also saw Pakistan chief selector Iqbal Qasim resigning from his post.

The current Pakistani side is very young and having a tour Down under must definitely have been a good learning experience for the lot. They are a talented bunch. Let’s hope the management does not panic and resort to sacking players. The Pakistan cricket team has always been an enigma. It has entertained cricket fans the world over with some spectacular cricket over the years. Hope the new decade infuses fresh strength into the side.