Losing to India is not exceptionally shameful, as winning and losing are part of the game. Still, when Pakistan plays India, especially at cricket, expectations are generated on both sides, and an aura of pseudo-patriotism and ultra-nationalism is generated in the peoples of both countries. This was true of Saturday’s match, but Pakistani fans were particularly pained by the drubbing the team received. It was not even a close contest, as Pakistan went down by seven wickets with almost 20 overs to spare. Pakistan had batted first, making 192 in 32.5 overs, failing to exploit no less than 17 of the 50 overs for its innings. What was so surprising was how Pakistan at one time seemed headed for a 300-plus total, which would not have been adequate, but which might have proved enough for its bowlers to make a fist of it. However, when skipper Babar Azam was dismissed in the 30th over, it proved to be the beginning of a middle-order collapse of humongous proportions, and the nightmare did not end until the entire team was dismissed, and that too for a woefully inadequate total.
Winning and losing are indeed part of the game, but the lack of fight shown in resisting the Indian bowling attack made it particularly painful in the way Pakistan has been treating its own bowlers, with the neglect shown Naseem Shah, an exciting prospect who has now developed a career-threatening injury. The team management has shown that it thinks that there is some sort of conveyor belt out there producing fast bowlers, and such profligacy is justified. However, the example of Shaheen Shah Afridi, who is maturing into a quality opener, and who managed two of the three Indian wickets to fall in Friday’s fiasco, should not be ignored. He is the example of someone who started off with potential who has been nurtured along until he has become the high-performance individual of today.
The time has not come for a wholesale clean-out, but some players need a second look. Perhaps too much faith is being placed in Shadab Khan, for example, even through he went for 32 runs in the eight overs he bowled, and scored only two. The tournament is not over for Pakistan, and it seems that the team needs better bowling. After all, that it overtook the highest total in a World Cup against Sri Lanka, did mean that first the bowlers were carted all over the ground.
