Kamran Abbasi
Neros fiddle while talent burns
Pakistan cricket has talent but no fairness, meritocracy or systems
Kamran Abbasi
07-Aug-2013
Is talent overrated? It might be, unless it's all you've got. Let's be clear, it's all Pakistan have got. Forget natural aptitudes or attributes for any sport. Forget eagle eyes and magical wrists. It's a simple numbers game. A country of 180 million has more people with natural talent than a country of 60 million. Let's not get on to certain countries with a population of over a billion. All things being equal, and we know that they aren't, size matters; Yorkshire, I'll wager, will beat Huntingdonshire. I wouldn't wager on Pakistan beating anybody, except possibly Zimbabwe.
But that's Pakistan for you. Talent is all Pakistan has got. And I'm not talking about Imran Farhat, newly recalled to Pakistan's squad for the tour of Zimbabwe. What's that all about? It isn't about performance or development or fairness. There are less kind, less honourable explanations. No Nasir Jamshed or Mohammad Irfan in Tests. No Hammad Azam in any form. Faisal Iqbal returns with Imran Farhat. What is going on? I feel like shouting in capitals. WHAT IS GOING ON?
We know that Pakistan have troubles, lots of troubles. From A to Z in the fat edition of the Encyclopaedia of Troubles, Pakistan headline every entry. When you have so many troubles, you can't compete. Fair enough. But that doesn't mean you kick yourself in the rocks at every turn. An unwritten law of Pakistan cricket is that any success is followed by an act of crass stupidity. Beat West Indies with refreshing splashes of new and regenerated blood. What's next? Build on that? No. Let's kill that vibe with cricketers whose most persuasive records are their records of birth. Any Pakistan squad will beat Zimbabwe. But you've still killed the vibe.
Full postAfridi speaks the magic word
Dare to dismiss him and he returns with an eye-popping performance
Kamran Abbasi
15-Jul-2013
"Owowwahwowwahwow!"
I think that's what he said? Shahid Afridi's return to international colours is hard to describe but combinations of "Wow" and "Wah" will do nicely.
Dare to dismiss him as a fluke, a man who sometimes gets lucky playing his game of craps, and he returns with a champion's response. Afridi has too many records and Man-of-the-Match medals to his name. He scored the fastest hundred in one-day internationals, and helped his country win a T20 World Cup. Afridi is no fluke. He is flawed and infuriating but there is magic in those Pathan eyes and wrists.
Full postBetrayed by the batsmen
Pakistan's batting order carries plenty of dead wood. There may not be too many alternatives but the few there are need to be looked at
Kamran Abbasi
16-Jun-2013
Pakistan's performance in international tournaments tends to defy prevailing circumstances. Not this time. The World Cup campaigns of 2003 and 2007 rank alongside this year's Champions Trophy as demoralising failures. The 2003 tournament in particular was followed by a cull of players that allowed Pakistan to rebuild and become competitive again. Something similar needs to happen now.
The imperative for Pakistan in one-day cricket is to build towards the next World Cup in 2015. The bowling is in good health. It is the batting that has required a surgeon's scalpel for over a year and now resembles a rotting corpse. The dead meat belongs to Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik, and Kamran Akmal. Mohammad Hafeez has some life in him as a bowling allrounder in the lower middle order but his lifetime's endeavour to establish himself as a top-order batsman has come to nought.
Pakistan cricket is not blessed with alternatives. Its cricket infrastructure is so shattered that it struggles to compete with the professional standards that have been established in other major cricketing countries, systems that are required to develop international-class batsmen.
Full postAn international joke
The performance of a majority of Pakistan's batsmen, and of the people who pick them, has become laughable
Kamran Abbasi
11-Jun-2013
Has there been a worse Pakistan batting order since the era of Kerry Packer? Even if there has, Pakistan's current bunch comes close. Misbah-ul-Haq and Nasir Jamshed aside, this is a batting order to forget, except it keeps being rammed down the throats of Pakistan supporters.
How far do you fault individuals for a lack of skill? A deep malaise lies at the heart of Pakistan's cricket structure that nurtures such ineptitude. Hashim Amla, Man of the Match, was lost for words when asked to critique Pakistan's batting failure. "What do you want me to say?" he laughed.
Full postMisbah, Pakistan's magnificent nearly man
Misbah-ul-Haq's tragedy is that his heroism, too often, covers for the collapse of his fellow batsmen, a collapse so complete that is it beyond the skills of one of the world's best bowling attacks to rescue
Kamran Abbasi
08-Jun-2013
As West Indies closed in on Pakistan's total at The Oval, Misbah-ul-Haq conceded a captain's no-ball: too few fielders inside the circle. It was another act to typify the dramatic career of Misbah, Pakistan's greatest ever nearly man. Misbah is by no means a perfect captain, but his impressive leadership deserves a better support cast.
Pakistan bowled like world champions and fielded competently; two-thirds of their game is progressing grandly under the current regime of Dav Whatmore and his support coaches. But the batting remains ever Pakistani, unreliable in execution and unfathomable in selection.
It should have been Misbah's day. Ninety-six not out from a total of 170 all out tells its own story. As Misbah eked the final runs towards a thoroughly deserved century, including missing out on a juicy long-hop outside off stump, a familiar aura of heroic tragedy engulfed Pakistan's captain.
Full postWhere are Pakistan's young batsmen?
The batsmen touring South Africa have contributed immensely to Pakistan cricket but the time has come to look ahead and plan for the 2015 World Cup
Kamran Abbasi
20-Mar-2013
On a pink day a white ball was battered black and blue. Breast cancer is not an obvious charity for South African cricket to champion when the country faces greater challenges from other diseases, HIV/Aids for example, but the pinkness applied a very Australian sheen to a performance worthy of the irrepressible force in world cricket. South Africa, namely AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla, smoked Pakistan's resurgence in this series with a record-breaking partnership of breathtaking execution.
Pakistan were never serious challengers after that but Shahid Afridi's batting beat an ancient rhythm, and stole the day if not the result. Reaching the second tier at the Wanderers seems miracle enough. Clearing the stadium? No chance. Enter Afridi, who bounced a free hit off the roof of the stand on its meteoric journey to the golf course beyond.
Afridi promised he would return revitalised for this series - and he has, at least with his batting. It has been a surprise and a treat. Where his bowling stands - his primary reason for selection - has been hard to determine on these unhelpful wickets. But he typifies the problems at the heart of Pakistan's selection darkness: batsmen struggling to bat and bowlers struggling to bowl.
Full postOne-day testing ground important for Pakistan
It remains a mystery as to why Pakistan took on South Africa with such an untried Test bowling attack but the one-day series offers a vital opportunity to beginning planning for the future in whites
Kamran Abbasi
09-Mar-2013
Strange occurrences are common in Pakistan cricket. Perhaps one of the deepest mysteries for future generations to decipher will be how Pakistan decided to challenge the world's undisputed No. 1 Test team with a squad packed with rookies? Some of the criticism of the team and coaching staff has been bizarre; nobody seriously expected Pakistan to beat South Africa. But a legitimate beef is that Pakistan pitted colts against thoroughbreds. Bowlers with no Test experience, sometimes no speed, were asked to dominate the best batting unit in Test cricket.
This particular aspect of the failure is alarming for a country that prides itself on its bowling riches. Pakistan's bowling attack looks a more formidable prospect in limited-overs cricket - much of this is because two of the most frustrating players of the last decade show promise for the longer game but are ultimately one-day specialists. Umar Gul and Mohammad Hafeez are frequent match-winners in both 50-over and T20 cricket. In Test cricket they struggle to influence a match in Pakistan's favour.
Influence, we know, is hard to measure: it isn't just about averages and strike rates. Take Gul for example. He sits just outside the top ten of Pakistan's all-time highest wicket-takers, ahead of Fazal Mahmood. His average, a touch over 34, isn't world beating but it is decent. Dig a little deeper though, and the statistics tell a different story. In matches that Pakistan have won, Gul's influence has been minimal. He has played in 16 victories, taking a five-wicket haul only twice in 32 innings. By comparison, Shoaib Akhtar played in 20 victories, taking a five-wicket haul on seven occasions in 38 innings.
Full postThe power of a few good men
Nobody except Rambo - and I don't mean Pakistan's and ESPNcricinfo's linguistic champion Ramiz Raja - ever won a war in isolation
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
Nobody except Rambo - and I don't mean Pakistan's and ESPNcricinfo's linguistic champion Ramiz Raja - ever won a war in isolation. We overestimate sport if we believe it is genuinely war minus the shooting, but on some occasions we don't overestimate it by much. Perhaps a televised rumble without switch-blades is closer to reality. For many reasons, Pakistan cricket is trapped in a perpetual rumble, its cricketers turning up their collars and striking a combative pose to take on the rest of the world--and just as often each other.
Adversity tends to prompt extreme reactions. Much of the world - and Pakistanis are no exception - expected Pakistan cricket to disintegrate after the calamity of the Lahore shootings in 2009 and the spot fixing scandal of 2010. The players might not have found love in a hopeless place but they seem to have discovered common purpose in an exiled space.
Instead of extinction, Pakistan cricket has adapted and emerged stronger after the cricketing equivalent of an asteroid strike or an ice age. In a variation on the theory of evolution, Pakistan's cricket is an example of survival of the least fit. Many Pakistanis, no doubt, will attribute this great escape to the power of prayer. By whatever mechanism, Pakistan cricket continues to engage, surprise, and fascinate, with no greater example than this year's tour of South Africa.
Full postBig Bird II must fly
For anybody thinking the only way is up for Pakistan in this Test series, think again. Misbah-ul Haq's team was competitive in two innings in Johannesburg, which leaves plenty of room for improvement and an equal amount for deterioration
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
For anybody thinking the only way is up for Pakistan in this Test series, think again. Misbah-ul Haq's team was competitive in two innings in Johannesburg, which leaves plenty of room for improvement and an equal amount for deterioration. South Africa dominated after the first hit, with their big players ensuring a happy centenary for Graeme Smith. Pakistan cannot match South Africa for big players but they do have the biggest bird. Mohammad Irfan, acolyte of the original Big Bird, Joel Garner, was a surprise omission from the first Test. The wrong must be righted. The scene is set in Cape Town. Big Bird II, the Gaggu Mandi version, must take wing.
Fast bowlers have never come taller than Irfan. Humans over 7ft tall are rare, cricketers at that height are rarer still. When he first appeared on the international scene in 2010, Irfan looked unfit and lacked control of line and length, pretty much struggling with all the attributes required to succeed at international level. On the recent tour of India, however, Irfan was a different prospect, offering control and sustained speed, a remarkable transformation and feather in the cap of the people who have guided him in the interim.
Let's be in no doubt, South Africa were wary of Irfan. The batsmen made plans, as top teams will for a perceived threat. They raised the sightscreens to nullify his high delivery point. But Irfan wasn't risked. The bird was left in its cage. Instead, another fledgling, Rahat Ali, filled a space on the team sheet, nothing more. South Africa, with their battle hardened batsmen, will lose no sleep over him. They will be cautious, at best, against Umar Gul; while Junaid Khan is a serious threat, not a mortal danger.
Full postBatsmen in a fight for respect
At the beginning of Misbah's reign, Pakistan drew a series against South Africa. Expectations were low, and the dead wickets of the Emirates helped, but Pakistan seemed ripe for humiliation
Kamran Abbasi
25-Feb-2013
At the beginning of Misbah's reign, Pakistan drew a series against South Africa. Expectations were low, and the dead wickets of the Emirates helped, but Pakistan seemed ripe for humiliation. It was a quiet statement of intent to symbolise the silent revolution of Misbah-ul Haq. Now Pakistan begin another Test series against South Africa, on this occasion on the dreaded wickets of Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the greatest compliment to Pakistan's progress is that the world's No. 1 team is taking Pakistan seriously.
It is hard to champion great expectations for this series. Pakistan invariably struggle in South Africa, even when they bring the best fast bowlers in the world with them. Those fast men have sometimes humbled South Africa but Pakistan's batsmen have rarely failed to find a lower gear. The ball bounces. The ball moves. It doesn't even have to do so at speed as Shaun Pollock has shown often enough. Pakistan's best batsmen nibble. They prod and poke. Thank you and good night.
Still, I cannot remember as resolute a bunch as this venturing to South African shores? We can expect true grit from Misbah and Younis Khan. Azhar Ali is cut from diligent cloth. Asad Shafiq will battle. Nasir Jamshed has quickly adapted his one-day game to encourage longevity and must be capable of the same in Tests. Mohammad Hafeez will urge his mind to the correct method although the Professor's feet are less reliable. That's Pakistan's top order right there, a grinder to the last man.
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