This piece is being scribed before the second ODI between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Pallekele kicks off. Barring rain having played spoilsport, it’s either 2-0 to Pakistan or 1-1 as you read this.
Considering the prodigious disparity between the two score-lines, a preview for the final three ODIs before the second ODI becomes a bit perplexing. However, in either score-line there are plenty of positives for Pakistan, which is what we’d be focusing on.
Following Bangladesh’s win over South Africa in the second ODI, ninth ranked Pakistan now face a one-on-one tussle with eighth ranked West Indies to qualify for the 2017 Champions Trophy which will be held in England. Pakistan and West Indies are scheduled to face off in a tri-series in Zimbabwe in August and September. But before that, Pakistan have the ODIs in Sri Lanka where they can make the right strides towards Champions Trophy qualification with a series win.
After a torrid 12 months in limited overs cricket, exclamation marked by being clean swept by Bangladesh 3-0, Pakistan sunk to almost the foot of the ICC ODI rankings. The 2-0 win against Zimbabwe, which become the subplot to ‘cricket coming home’, put the ODI team in the right direction. The convincing win in the first ODI at Dambulla has signalled Pakistan’s intent.
The win was set up by Mohammed Hafeez, who came up with one of the best all-round performances by a Pakistani in limited-overs cricket. His 4-41 restricted Sri Lanka to a perfectly gettable 255. His 10th ODI century – last four being against Sri Lanka – helped Pakistan reach the target with all the time in the world remaining.
The plot twist here of course is that Hafeez was reported for his bowling action during the Test series, following which he went to India for a test. Failing the test would mean at least a 12-month ban on bowling in all formats of the game.
While Hafeez can bowl till the results arrive, losing him as a bowler could mean Pakistan being a player short every time they take to field, henceforth. Considering his batting over the past two years, he’ll get into the side as a batsman alone, but Pakistan would then be a bowler – or a batsman – short.
Losing Hafeez as a bowler could mean Pakistan being a player short every time they take to field
One man who can partially fill that void is Shoaib Malik, who returned to the side – and form – in the Zimbabwe series. Malik continued from where he left off with a 45-ball 55 in the first ODI, and bowled 5 overs for 34 runs as well. Even so, Malik is clearly no Hafeez with the ball in his hand – and relying on him to deliver 10 economical overs day in, day out, as a genuine all-rounder, would be over optimistic.
Talking of all-rounders, Anwar Ali is supposed to come with that billing. He hasn’t, however, quite done enough to be trusted with either bat or ball. He does give Pakistan a long batting line-up on paper, but Anwar Ali is quite possibly the current side’s weakest link, both with the ball and among the recognised batsmen – not quite what you’d want as an all-rounder.
Rahat Ali continued his good form from the last Test match and is proving to be a more than able understudy for the injured Wahab Riaz. Yasir Shah hasn’t quite transferred his Test form into limited-overs cricket and probably needs time to become as menacing a bowler in the shorter formats as he now undoubtedly is in Test cricket.
It was promising to see Mohammad Irfan bowling at over 140 kph and dominating the batsmen, albeit without any breakthroughs. Like Misbah, Azhar Ali is using him wisely, in short bursts, to maximise his threat.
Mohammad Irfan
Both Azhar Ali – who has been a revelation in ODIs following his rise to captaincy – and Ahmed Shehzad looked good before being caught behind. Azhar Ali’s intent has been positive since taking over the captaincy and the opening batting slot. And he showed glimpses of his performances against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at Dambulla. Along with a good team result, Azhar needs to post good scores to cement his position as the undisputed skipper of the ODI side.
In addition to Hafeez and Malik’s strong showing, youngsters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan – who finished off the run chase with Malik – looked good. With Sarfraz at number seven – who didn’t get a chance to bat at Dambulla – and Anwar Ali at eight, Pakistan bat deep, without compromising the bowling depth – thanks in large to Hafeez.
With youngsters coming good, and the top and middle order performing, Pakistan can not only qualify for the Champions Trophy with the right results in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, they might even have the groundwork in place to actually challenge for the trophy in two years’ time. However, a ban on Hafeez’s bowling could dent Pakistan’s hopes.
