"For we may pity though not pardon thee"
Sir William Shakespeare - The Comedy of Errors
While watching the Pakistan team toil against Afghanistan the other day, it seems that Shakespeare must be turning in his grave, wondering who are these new geniuses trying to rewrite one of his classics through real-life displays.
The point I am trying to make is that the Pakistan team is currently in the process of rewriting The Comedy of Errors, one of Shakespeare's early and iconic works, on a daily basis in the ongoing World Cup in India.
If one looks closely, this downward slope started before the World Cup and at the Asia Cup.
In the match against Afghanistan, our boys also became champions of tragedy and utter confusion, much like Macbeth and Hamlet -- two Shakespearean characters who embodied the traits of confusion and sorrow.
Cricket is akin to a game of chess, and the captain is the one making the moves, controlling the pieces on the board. If your moves are relevant, you know when and how to use every piece or player to your advantage while accurately anticipating the moves of the opponent, then you win the game of chess – or cricket. Hence, the captain is the most crucial player as he controls the movement of the knights, the pawns and the queen. It is for this reason that the leader of the pack needs to be shrewd, selfless, strong, sanguine and sagacious.
In short, Babar Azam is a crucial player for the Pakistan team, especially in the batting department, but at the moment, he is not a match-winner
To Pakistan's disadvantage, its captain displays none of the above qualities. And I am not being harsh; I am being brutally honest. It is high time now that we state the exact scenario without mincing words.
Babar is an excellent test batsman, but in the white-ball format, he hasn't embraced the demands of modern-day cricket. He does score at a rate higher than an average of 56 runs per match, which is fabulous, but he lags in strike rate and improvisation. He is too classic and conventional in his batting style, effectively denting his team's performance when he is at the crease.
In short, Babar Azam is a crucial player for the Pakistan team, especially in the batting department, but at the moment, he is not a match-winner like David Warner.
Against Afghanistan, he scored 74 runs with a strike rate of 80.43. In the past, this may have been considered great, but in modern cricket, it is subpar. A long innings with that strike rate means you are aiming for the team to score 240 runs. If you have a strike rate of 90, you are targeting a score of 270 runs. But if you push the strike rate to 110-120, then you are looking at a team score of 330-360 runs; it’s simple math.
Babar's average career strike rate is 88. For him to transform into a match winner, he needs to boost this to around 100 or more. If you think that is an unrealistic expectation, glance at players like Rohit Sharma, Quinton de Kock, Shreyas Iyer, and Heinrich Klassen, who are constantly aiming for those strike rates, which is why their teams are currently leading the pack at the World Cup.
With no apologies to anyone, Pakistan seem to be stuck in the mould of the 1992 World Cup. That's evident in our batters' strike rates because Pakistan's highest total during the 1992 World Cup was 254 against Zimbabwe.
In Chennai, where the pitch is slow and sluggish, the score should have been at least 300, but it was 280. Pakistan fell 20 runs short, and that cost us the game - evidenced by how Afghanistan finished with only an over to spare compared to our blushes against India, who assailed our modest total with 20 overs to spare.
While Babar ends up with a half-century or a ton, in reality, he is denting the team's potential to get a higher total on the board
To cement my argument about Babar's current strike rate not being worthy of a marquee player despite his potential to achieve it, you need to go back in time for just a short while. In a time not so long ago, in 2021, Babar Azam sported a strike rate of 108. This calendar year, it has fallen to 84.3. In terms of what this costs, the team today is an additional 72 runs compared to 2021.
If there is one constant we have witnessed in the game of cricket since our historic 1992 triumph, it is the evolution of the game by the minute. If Babar wants to make it to the cut once he is not the captain, he needs to review what he was doing in 2021 and what he is not doing in 2023.
Most captains, if they're batters, often lead from the front by laying down markers and showing intent to the opposition and the rest of their team, like Rohit Sharma or Williamson do. But Babar is so far the opposite. Rather than the opposition, he frustrates his own batting partners. Whether it is Rizwan, Imam or Abdullah, whoever is batting with Babar, they try to accelerate the run rate because he appears devoid of purpose at the other end, and someone needs to up the ante. This leads to Babar's partners playing rash strokes, and in the process, they often end up losing their wickets unnecessarily.
While Babar ends up with a half-century or a ton, in reality, he is denting the team's potential to get a higher total on the board. His fellow batters are sacrificing their innings to make up for his sluggish batting. Imagine their frustrations and private conversations about this scenario. One only wishes they were a fly on the wall for those moments.
But this tournament has not only exposed Babar's weaknesses as a batsman but as a captain as well. Babar has appeared to be clueless with bowling changes, field placements, and the selection of the playing eleven, which often leads to a frustrated team and heartbroken 240 million people.
To dwell a little more on Babar's inept leadership skills, he has also been biased in squad selection for the World Cup.
The way he selected the squad reminds me of an Amitabh Bachchan and Shatrughan Sinha song from the 1980s: "Bane chhayie dushman zamana humara, Salamat rahe dostana humara."
In my opinion, it is high time Babar stepped down as the captain and focussed on contributing regularly as a mere mortal with intent
I am referring to the selections of Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, and, to some extent, Hasan Ali. Babar is accused of nepotism because he chose his allies and comrades, Shadab, Hasan, and Nawaz, who have failed to fully justify their selection in the tournament. Babar opted for safer players and did not take the risk with Zaman Khan and Abrar Ahmed, who are two potent weapons. This is why our bowling attack has appeared weak and proven itself ineffective.
Shadab and Nawaz are more suitable for T20 cricket. That is common knowledge, but Babar was intent on including them in the wrong war, another sign of his hubris.
It is the captain's job to lead with vigour, play his individual role purposefully, and assign roles and delegate to his troops to maximise their strengths. Babar Azam seems incapable of this, and that is why the team is currently struggling.
The lone good victory that Pakistan achieved was when Babar was dismissed early against Sri Lanka, and the others played freely and as per the requirements of the team to win the match in what proved to be a great game of cricket.
In my opinion, it is high time Babar stepped down as the captain and focussed on contributing regularly as a mere mortal with intent. He needs to free himself from the shackles of captaincy and should allow someone else to lead the team before he is ousted.
Individually as a batter, Babar needs to start improvising, using his feet, playing inside-out lofted drives, smashing sixes and adding big shots to his repertoire. It is time for him to evolve beyond the cover drive and basically not be a one-trick pony and prove his mettle as one of the greats of the sport.
Play golf and learn to swing a club or nine iron freely; I am sure he will feel liberated.