It ended as soon as it started. It was an incomplete dream, a trail of blur. The Pakistan cricket team's first-round exit in the T20 World Cup is a first in its history. The ride home for the current lot is not going to be easy, as the possibility of major changes in the playing eleven keeps their throats dry, and rightly so.
Our automatic qualification for the 2026 T20 World Cup is now in danger, and the possibility of playing qualifiers marks an all-time low for cricket in Pakistan. This is a collective disappointment for us as a nation. The one thing that kept our politically and economically divided population together was cricket, but our disorganised, to say the least, cricket team had other plans.
Pakistan cricket team's T20 World Cup stint in America was a sobering reminder of the chasm between promise and delivery. Sadly, the team at work has become a familiar tale of unfulfilled potential and baffling inconsistency.
Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, New Zealand's-C team, Ireland, and now the USA. The last of our worries was losing to a team that had part-time players who were playing the T20 World Cup only by virtue of being the host country. The only domain where we could outsmart the global superpower was cricket. A team of software engineers and Uber drivers got the best of a full-time cricket team.
Sadly, there was no professionalism whatsoever on display by the Pakistan team, either on or off the field. The team was seen selling selfies for $25. There was no sense of purpose or intent about them
The world of sports is full of shocking upsets. Like how the "baddest man on the planet" Mike Tyson was knocked out by Buster Douglas in 1990, making it 42-1, how Leicester City surprised everyone by breaking through the hegemony of the top four to win the English Premier League in 2015-16, how Saudi Arabia beat Messi's Argentina at the 2022 football World Cup in Qatar (Argentina went on to win the cup) to name a few. These upsets are called 'upsets' simply because they happen once in a very long time, unlike our cricketers who have made losing to amateurs a common practice (Pakistan perhaps has an unwanted record of losing to minnows - including tournament debutantes - in almost every major tournament for the past 20 years).
Our outing with India, in New York's Nassau County Cricket Stadium, was perhaps the most painful four hours of cricket we had to watch. Our bowlers, thanks to the New York pitch and overcast conditions, were finally able to have a good day at work but our batters, as usual, took an early leave. Middling the ball and taking singles became a superhuman task. Our middle order was, once again, badly exposed, and the presence of a true all-rounder and proper spin attack was deeply felt. Shaheen and Babar were seen not talking to each other, giving material to the claims of grouping and fallouts within the team. Our so-called 'rivalry' with India has reduced to an 'upset' which - on the back of India's proficiency in World Cups against Pakistan - would be for the Indian team to face if and when Pakistan beats them. Our head-to-head tally in T20 matches now is 11-3; this goes further in non-T20 matches during World Cups.
Sadly, there was no professionalism whatsoever on display by the Pakistan team, either on or off the field. The team was seen selling selfies for $25. There was no sense of purpose or intent about them. The team was busy trying out cowboy hats and showcasing their cosplaying skills - one must ask at this point if they were players or just cosplaying as cricket players. It is important to note here that no other team wore this headgear, even for promotion purposes. Virat Kohli, on the other hand, was seen making effective use of his time at an LA fitness gym. Hitting boundaries and taking catches would obviously not be possible for the men in green with all the oils and buttery chicken floating in their belly. Unfortunately, this is the mindset of our category-A players who receive a whooping Rs5 million monthly salary. Where is the team management?
Furthermore, questionable body language on the field, poor shot selection by batters, and poor ball control by pacers indicate the level of preparedness and technical skills our players possess. Our coaching staff and team management have a lot of homework to do.
PSL, with all the branding and social media hype, is just a flashy league where money is thrown, and the same bunch of locals, along with some leftovers and retired international players, are seen dancing with the ball
Our social media 'King', the captain of the Pakistan cricket team, turns into a docile cat in T20 tournaments. He averages 27.85 runs during tournaments with a strike rate of 112.06. His highest score during T20 tournaments is 70, with zero hundreds and zero man-of-the-match titles. Despite this, he has captained the team for five long years with full autonomy but has yet to produce an ICC tournament win. Rather, he has matured a team that is on the verge of self-destruction. Some players are fighting over the captaincy, some are celebrating personal milestones instead of team successes, while others prefer league cricket over the national side - one has to ask if league cricket is all that lucrative or if their reason for staying away from such a radioactive group is a greater incentive.
The captain's best friend, Shadab Khan, got a ticket to the US to play in the T20 World Cup as an all-rounder. When he could not rise to the task, he was played as a bowler, failing which he was turned into a middle-order batsman. He flunked every role, but his name remained constant in the playing eleven. Talk about best friend goals. Is this a professional body or a neighbourhood team of friends?
We have to stop picking players from the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for international duty. We have to swallow the ugly truth that the PSL, with all the branding and social media hype, is just a flashy league where money is thrown, and the same bunch of locals, along with some leftovers and retired international players, are seen dancing with the ball. It should not be a gateway into the national team. Instead, we have to shift our attention towards the neglected grassroots, the departmental and domestic cricket, where players are ground, groomed and turned into future stars.
A "major operation" is awaited. All eyes are on the new Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman. What cricket and the well-being of our mental health need from the cricket board and team right now is merit, consistency, and a clean heart.