Last week, halfway into the five match ODI series which eventually resulted in a 5-0 sweep for Australia over Pakistan, we asked in this space as to what precisely the team management and the chief selector were thinking in opting for a second string side against the defending world champions two months before the World Cup.
Now that Pakistan have been comprehensively whitewashed, those questions will naturally transform into bellows, demanding answers from whosoever was the mastermind behind the shambles against Australia.
Given the manner with which Coach Mickey Arthur is defending the selection, it appears that he, at the very least, was completely on board with the planning. In a recent interview Arthur said that it was important to give the first teamers a ‘rest’ before the World Cup, given that Pakistan play a five match ODI series against England in the buildup to the big event early next month.
Junaid Khan
Was the 5-0 loss owing to a desire to deflect ominous questions regarding the state of the ODI side?
Let’s assume that the rest was indeed in the best interest for Pakistan cricket, and would optimize Pakistan’s showing at the World Cup. Why couldn’t the players have been rested during the PSL – or played sparingly? Is the franchise T20 tournament now more important than the national side, that too a series against Australia? And yes, while April will have the training camp for the World Cup, there is no international cricket for Pakistan throughout the month, which would have sufficed if the intent were indeed to rest players.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the 5-0 loss is the fact that there is literally no one who can be held accountable. One really couldn’t have expected a second string lineup to get the better of an Australian side that just beat India in India and one which usually peaks in the lead up to a World Cup.
Haris Sohail
The team captain Sarfraz Ahmed was rested even though he missed half of the South Africa limited-overs matches following his ban for racist comments. He was joined by Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan and Shaheen Afridi – only the former among these five is older than 24 years, and the latter two are 20 and 18 years old respectively.
Furthermore, Faheem Ashraf was sent back after participating in two ODIs, meanwhile Shoaib Malik and Imam-ul-Haq didn’t play the last two matches against Australia. All of these players are almost guaranteed World Cup spots.
So you can’t blame the captain, who wasn’t there, can’t question the makeshift skipper who didn’t play the last two ODIs and didn’t have much to play for anyway. One can’t hold the first-teamers accountable because they weren’t there. Those who started were largely playing for their positions in the future squads and not to win the actual matches they were taking part in, resulting in the unenviable eventuality of five centuries in five matches without even a single win.
Mohammed Rizwan
If the point of the exercise to give players a shot at making the World Cup, should we now expect Haris Sohail, Mohammad Rizwan and Abid Ali to be shoo-in for the 15-man squad. You won’t bet your house on all three centurions being there.
In such circumstances, Mickey Arthur was naturally the only person one could question. He doesn’t seem to have too many regrets, despite rhetorical allusions towards his ‘disappointment’ at losing the series, which Pakistan, for all intents and purposes, planned to lose.
A 5-0 loss for Pakistan without anyone being answerable is perhaps the team management’s way of deflecting the more ominous questions regarding the state of the national ODI side, which has been on a constant decline since the Champions Trophy win.
That historic win in the summer of 2017 was the result of a quintessential Pakistani tournament sprint where they defy the odds sans any logical explanation, and not one that was masterminded by anyone. The current team management has been surviving on that Champions Trophy win and the T20 exploits, even though Pakistan have been on a precipitous decline in the longer formats for the past two seasons.
Of course, all will be vindicated with a strong showing at the World Cup. And we’ll continue our build up to the event over the next couple of months, which will also include the ODI series against England.
