Waqar Younis Photo © CricInfo Ltd At Lord’s, Waqar must have realized that England must have been in a generous mood otherwise the margin of defeat could have stung far more
Dr Nauman Niaz21-May-2001
Waqar Younis
Photo © CricInfo Ltd
At Lord’s, Waqar must have realized that England must have been in a generous mood otherwise the margin of defeat could have stung far more. Losing a Test by an innings and nine runs, inside three days is certainly humiliating.The team has problems. Perhaps the worst that has happened to it is a superfluous presence of living legends. How long they can they remain living as opposed to legends, is a matter of speculation. On the other hand, at Karachi, Wasim Bari, the chairman of selectors will have to get himself a louder alarm clock than the one that failed to wake him while he was selecting the team.
Saeed Anwar
Photo © CricInfo Ltd
In England, the fragile and often trembling Pakistan batsmen must have thanked their lucky stars for not having to face Mathew Hoggard from one of the ends otherwise, it could have been worse. Saeed and Saleem may well have thought instead of injuring skipper Nasser Hussain, Shoaib would have done them a service had he disposed off Andrew Caddick instead.The Pakistan cricketers, replete with a foreign physio, a foreign coach, a foreign bowling coach, a Cambridge trained Manager, training programmes and tonics, arrived in England and right away looked noticeably out of place. If they’d been well prepared for the series as the manager commented, then God knows what yardstick he uses to gauge performance.After having lost at Lord’s, Pakistan have a lot of catching up to do. Self-serving though this may sound, coming from me, its interesting to note that Yawar, himself a former Somerset all-rounder, stated that the team didn’t require a cricket analyst and that he’ll perform the duty himself. So one can ask the fair question, why didn’t he firmly instruct the coach to tell his batsmen to not go chasing balls outside off, especially after the follow-on?One can only surmise, by now he must be quite happy for having done the dual job effectively? One must give him credit for supporting his team’s cause by ensuring they took the fifth day off and completed the last minute rites minutes before the last session of the fourth day came to an end.Anyway, this happens in cricket. Winning or losing is part of the game but the fact remains, Pakistan’s performance was shocking. Perhaps we were expecting rather more than we should have. Pakistanis want their team to win every match and possible thrilled by the previous achievements in England in 1987, 1992 & 1996 we illogically thought that 2001 series will also fetch the same results. And in Waqar, it seemed Pakistan had a captain who would ensure that there would never be a losing moment in a match.Don’t we all fail to realize that most of our top cricketers have played out their bit and now merely depend on the great deeds done in the past? Are they just hanging around, just to be there, going through the motions and trying to last a bit longer?
Wasim Akram
Photo © AFP
Wasim Akram’s skills are universally acclaimed and no question about the past but his current value is now being questioned. This may be Wasim’s own doing; in the field he does give an impression of being no more than casually interested in the proceedings. Yet, though less frequently, he pops up with some useful bowling. He is brim full of natural ability but has certainly lost what made him the greatest of all.The time has come to accept that Wasim and Waqar will not bowl Pakistan to victory should they be given this assignment in future teams. We must admit that Waqar’s bowling too has lost its sustained pace and aggression and now presents few difficulties to the leading batsmen. Nor is Wasim quite the accurate bowler he once was. Two great bowlers these but their glorious days are done and this, sadly, will have to be accepted.Neither Inzamam nor Yousuf are having a good series. Inzamam always carries the burden of team’s high expectations but when he fails to get a hundred he tends to be written off as failure. No doubt these two possess undying talent though they have contributed far less than expectations so far. Similarly Saeed has been plagued by his knee injury and is finding age wrapping up his reflexes. He always had the tendency of flirting with balls pitched outside the line of off-stump but we need to accept the truth; his foot movement is now much slower than it used to be. Under English conditions he’ll always find himself vulnerable but still there are hundreds of runs that can still surge from his blade, one he wields more attractively than any, provided he applies himself and plays with utmost conviction.Honest analysis would reveal, Pakistan’s performance at Lord’s was far below comprehensible standards:
Our team forfeited the advantage of having won the toss by bowling lazily, short of length and without any visible game plan.As it transpired, some awful fielding added more to the misery.The choice of the playing XI was absolutely mind-boggling. Waqar should have played with one spinner instead of going in with five pacers.Field placing was often wanting. Waqar seemingly lost control of the situation and a total of 391 is always threatening.One must admit that the batsmen played recklessly, without purpose and at times quite illogically. Isn’t it unfortunate that even the top players were seen hurling their bats at balls bowled teasingly outside the off stump and that too in England? A technique learnt on the sub-continent pitches where the ball comes through slowly and swings less.In a logical review and keeping likes and dislikes away, one can conclude with something that every Pakistan cricket fan needs to know and understand deep down:Unfortunately, the big names of Pakistan Cricket have played out their parts, and what a glorious innings they were, magical cricket thorough and professional, all for the game’s cause.In all honesty, we don’t yet have the ideal replacements but yet cricket needs to move ahead and make way for the superstars of tomorrow.Accept losing some matches or series because this is not a problem if we are sure that we have something in store for the future. Accept Pakistan losing for a while, stop blaming failure on individuals, umpires, administrators or in conspiracies. Before we know it our cricket will get to the heights where it really belongs.We must stop thinking we cannot live without the legends. They will be there forever in our hearts, in the record books and to look up to. We must prepare to bid them adieu. Let’s keep in view, Pakistan cricket’s future and hope suitable replacements are earmarked quickly. Let’s not call a new bat with couple of ducks a failure or discard a wicketless newbie.Even though, at the moment, there is a dearth of flair and genius in the country and it will be really hard for Pakistan cricket administrators, managers, coaches and selectors to come out with players who can adjust to the rigors of international cricket instantly but still, we desperately need to invest in our youth. That’s where the future lies.