COLOMBO: As Pakistan left for Dhaka on Monday for its quarterfinal match against West Indies in the ICC World Cup, the biggest concern for it was the team's batting form. Not one batsman came anywhere close to a century in six games in Sri Lanka, even against minnow nations.
Pakistan joins Australia in the list of nations that qualified but is still looking for a century maker. Australia too has not found a century maker yet, but two of its batsmen have pushed past the nineties. Shane Watson with 94 is its highest scorer so far. Maybe Pakistan is looking to 1983 for inspiration when the team made 338 for five against Sri Lanka without an individual century.
For Pakistan, Misbah-ul-Haq's 83 has been the highest so far, followed by young Asad Shafiq's 78. “Asad Shafiq is not a big hitter. He quietly manoeuvres the ball and picks up runs, boundaries also. At No. 3 he did a superb job in the last match (against Zimbabwe) and also against Australia. He is doing really well,” said Pakistan coach Waqar Younis. Shafiq has got just two games so far and has scored 78 and 46.
Classic case
Most batsmen have been hanging around and have failed; Ahmed Shehzad being a classic case. In five innings he has made 44, while captain Shahid Afridi has had an equally horrendous tournament, scoring a total of 65 in six matches.
The only batsman to cross the 200-run mark (in five matches, missed one due to a mysterious injury) is Umar Akmal. Misbah and Younis, the batting mainstays, have scored two fifties each in a total of six matches (Misbah in five innings, and Younis in six) and have also gone for a duck on one occasion each, piling up the pressure on the latter batsmen.
“We definitely have a problem with our openers… We need to improve (our batting)… Pitches here (in Sri Lanka) are a little difficult to bat on. Things will get a lot easier when we go to the other part (of the sub-continent),” said Waqar.
The main problem is that of the openers not putting together a partnership that the later batsmen could work on. “Hopefully in the quarterfinals the story will be different,” he added.
Afridi has admitted at least thrice in Sri Lanka that his own batting form is also a concern. But that has not meant that he has improved.
There is no evidence that he even tried to improve. He agreed that he played a stupid shot against Australia when the chase was getting tougher.
But admitting one's mistake is only a small step towards corrective action. Afridi has done enough talking, now he has to show something on the scorecard.
Waqar defended Afridi stoutly, when asked about Afridi's shot selection in the crunch match against Australia.
“If the same shot had sailed over the boundary, you would have said that it's a marvellous shot. That is the way he plays his game,” he said.
On playing in Bangladesh, he said Pakistan had played a practice match against Bangladesh in Mirpur and had won that game.
“But now we will have to go there and re-assemble ourselves. We have to forget the victories here and look at the tournament afresh. Regardless of the ground we need a new strategy,” he said.
Waqar wanted critics to remember that Pakistan had defeated Australia and Sri Lanka, the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the world, despite the problems afflicting Pakistan cricket.
“I am very happy. This is a small gift (the victory against these teams). Insha-Allah, more such gifts will come,” he added.
Pakistan joins Australia in the list of nations that qualified but is still looking for a century maker. Australia too has not found a century maker yet, but two of its batsmen have pushed past the nineties. Shane Watson with 94 is its highest scorer so far. Maybe Pakistan is looking to 1983 for inspiration when the team made 338 for five against Sri Lanka without an individual century.
For Pakistan, Misbah-ul-Haq's 83 has been the highest so far, followed by young Asad Shafiq's 78. “Asad Shafiq is not a big hitter. He quietly manoeuvres the ball and picks up runs, boundaries also. At No. 3 he did a superb job in the last match (against Zimbabwe) and also against Australia. He is doing really well,” said Pakistan coach Waqar Younis. Shafiq has got just two games so far and has scored 78 and 46.
Classic case
Most batsmen have been hanging around and have failed; Ahmed Shehzad being a classic case. In five innings he has made 44, while captain Shahid Afridi has had an equally horrendous tournament, scoring a total of 65 in six matches.
The only batsman to cross the 200-run mark (in five matches, missed one due to a mysterious injury) is Umar Akmal. Misbah and Younis, the batting mainstays, have scored two fifties each in a total of six matches (Misbah in five innings, and Younis in six) and have also gone for a duck on one occasion each, piling up the pressure on the latter batsmen.
“We definitely have a problem with our openers… We need to improve (our batting)… Pitches here (in Sri Lanka) are a little difficult to bat on. Things will get a lot easier when we go to the other part (of the sub-continent),” said Waqar.
The main problem is that of the openers not putting together a partnership that the later batsmen could work on. “Hopefully in the quarterfinals the story will be different,” he added.
Afridi has admitted at least thrice in Sri Lanka that his own batting form is also a concern. But that has not meant that he has improved.
There is no evidence that he even tried to improve. He agreed that he played a stupid shot against Australia when the chase was getting tougher.
But admitting one's mistake is only a small step towards corrective action. Afridi has done enough talking, now he has to show something on the scorecard.
Waqar defended Afridi stoutly, when asked about Afridi's shot selection in the crunch match against Australia.
“If the same shot had sailed over the boundary, you would have said that it's a marvellous shot. That is the way he plays his game,” he said.
On playing in Bangladesh, he said Pakistan had played a practice match against Bangladesh in Mirpur and had won that game.
“But now we will have to go there and re-assemble ourselves. We have to forget the victories here and look at the tournament afresh. Regardless of the ground we need a new strategy,” he said.
Waqar wanted critics to remember that Pakistan had defeated Australia and Sri Lanka, the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the world, despite the problems afflicting Pakistan cricket.
“I am very happy. This is a small gift (the victory against these teams). Insha-Allah, more such gifts will come,” he added.
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