By Shahid Akhtar Hashmi
Pakistan’s World Cup campaign is in disarray after they were upset by Afghanistan and then lost by a narrow margin of one wicket — both in Chennai. They now need to win all their three matches to harbour any hopes of reaching the semi-finals. Here we dissect the reasons of their poor show in the 2023 World Cup.
The chair of Pakistan Cricket Board chairman has been rocking. We have had three chairmen in the last 11 months and the fourth one is on the way as Zaka Ashraf’s tenure ends on November 4. That constant change at the top has hurt Pakistan cricket badly. One chairman makes a policy, the next one changes it. One chairman appointed team management, the next objected to that and tried his level best to bring a new man.
Najam Sethi appointed Mickey Arthur as the Team director of the Pakistan team. When Zaka Ashraf comes he tries to change Mickey. But after being advised not to remove him, he decided to wait until after the World Cup. Now if Pakistan team fares badly then Zaka Ashraf will absolve himself.
Regular changes in the PCB set up have hurt Pakistan cricket. It may not have a direct effect but it is one of the main reasons.
Just two months before the World Cup, Zaka Ashraf appointed Inzamam-ul-Haq as chairman of the selectors. The committee also included team director Mickey Arthur, head coach Grant Bradburn and manager analytics and strategy Hasan Cheema.
Some 17 players were selected for the Asia Cup. Saud Shakeel was only selected for the three-match series against Afghanistan while Tayyab Tahir was part of the Asia Cup squad. In a twist, Shakeel was retained for the Asia Cup and then in the World Cup squad. Poor Tahir was axed, without playing. Just two weeks from the World Cup Pakistan suffered a shock when fast-rising pacer Naseem Shah was ruled out of the World Cup with a shoulder injury.
A massive blow. It hurt Pakistan’s preparation.
There were some deliberations for the selection of the World Cup squad. The announcement of the squad was delayed as finding a replacement for Naseem was the contentious issue. Faheem Ashraf or Hasan Ali. In the end the ticket was given to Hasan who staged a comeback after two years.
With the loss of Naseem Shah, the trio of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf was broken. Rauf took five wickets in the first game against Afghanistan in the bilateral series but has since been leaking runs. In the Asia Cup Pakistan restricted a strong India side to 266 all out and that sent a warning to the World Cup teams.
Spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi failed to make an early impact. Haris Rauf leaked runs and was found wanting. Pakistan’s spinners lacked bite on slow and turning pitches of India. Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz and Iftikhar Ahmed have combinedly managed just six wickets in five matches, conceding 502 runs.
Pakistan’s bowling did get back of sorts in the fight against South Africa but they did not bowl within the stumps to the tail-ender and failed to get the last wicket.
Poor Captaincy
Without a doubt, Babar Azam is one of the top batters in white ball cricket but he could not match that in captaincy. He lacked aggression in field settings and was seen standing at mid-off clueless in the match against Afghanistan. He did not attack Afghanistan batters. Babar Azam has let off opponents from bad positions to score fighting totals in the last two years. Pakistan media has consistently accused him of favoring his friends in selection, failing to make a strong bench needed for bigger events.
Babar’s captaincy also came into question during the match against South Africa. Babar did attack, for the first time, but erred by giving Mohammad Nawaz the last over and not to Usama Mir who had two overs in hand and had got two wickets to Nawaz’s none.
With frequent changes in the Pakistan Cricket Board set up — three chairmen in the last one year — have hurt Pakistan’s planning for the World Cup. Former chairman Najam Sethi brought Mickey Arthur as team director, who also kept his Derbyshire county job in England. Directing the teams from UK, he was criticized as a “Zoom coach.” Pakistan also failed to manage the workload of their fast bowlers as Naseem and Shaheen were playing all formats. Naseem’s likely replacements Ihsanullah and Mohammad Hasnain were also unfit, forcing Pakistan to recall Hasan Ali.
“You were not able to find a coach and since you liked foreign ones you hired an online coach. We change our system frequently and that is showing in our performance in the World Cup,” said former Pakistan great Wasim Akram.
Pakistan Cricket Board issued a press release just before the crucial match against South Africa, trying to absolve itself from the flopped World Cup show. They put the blame on Babar and chief selector, highlighting that the duo was given the full power to select the World Cup squad. In other words, the PCB management committee chief Zaka Ashraf tried to absolve himself from the responsibility. It showed Babar in a poor light.
Team Director on Zoom:
PCB’s former chairman Najam Sethi brought back Mickey Arthur, this time as team director. But having seen the frequent changes in the PCB hierarchy, Mickey insisted that he would keep his Derbyshire county job and when the county season was over he would join the Pakistan team. He was justified in keeping the county job as there is no assurance in the time limit of a coach’s stint in Pakistan. Mickey kept in touch with the head coach Grant Bradburn but that affected the overall planning.
