by Aravinda Samarasinghe :
The Pakistan cricket team is probably the only side that has never been short of natural talent. From first memories of watching cricket in the early 90s they have always been a team full of cricketing talent and players of genuine skill. I remember watching them in the 1992 world cup, the likes of Akram and Inzamam instilled some of the most wonderful cricketing memories in my life . Inzie’s innings in the 1992 world cup semi finals against New Zealand is one of the top innings in history. Not to forget the performance by Wasim Akram in the finals. Surely most fans would have predicted England to win the cup like most had hoped in the champions trophy 2017 just concluded. It was Pakistan’s aggressive young talent rising to the occasion on both times that defied England & India the trophy. In 92 it was the aggressive pace bowling combined with swing and in 2017 it was aggressive batting by a rookie that led them to the victory.
Pakistan’s line up has always been colorful with players of high caliber. Masters of reverse swing Wasim & Waqar were destroying batting lineups like powerful tornadoes through a built up area. Along the years this team has been full of big cricketers and there was always a superstar waiting to replace one and carry the mantle. Replacements were mostly like for like. Never short of talent. However in recent times Pakistan cricket has been on rocky roads and been in news for all the wrong reasons. From coach Bob Woolmer’s sudden death in 2007 after Pakistan’s defeat to Ireland and their unexpected elimination, the unfortunate terrorist attack on Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009 in Lahore, to the 2010 spot fixing scandal which saw captain Salman Butt and chief instigator Mohammed Asif serve bans & young raw speedster Mohammad Amir being jailed for 6 months and suspended for 5 years, perhaps rocky roads was the least of their worries.
The aftermath of all this is, they have not hosted any international cricket at home and had to play all their home games in the UAE a sort of new foster home. Yet Pakistan managed to climb to the pinnacle of Cricket by becoming the number one test ranking team in 2016, getting ahead of India by one point.
From 6th in the rankings in 2014 Pakistan managed to climb to the top by beating England in England, Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and beating Crickets’ newest rising team Bangladesh in Bangladesh. All these counted for five test wins and claiming series wins. Apart from them they managed to beat Australia and New Zealand and England again in their foster home without as much as a strong home crowd support. It should be mentioned the leadership of Misbah Ul Haq as the backbone of this success. Misbah took the reins at a time when Pakistan was down and out and had his work cut out to rebuild a side low on confidence and marred with controversy. There was progress under his leadership he was a cool and calm character in the field and the dynamics of the players on field showed that this man has some respect and posses’s the right leadership skills. Pakistan cricket do owe a great deal to this man for bringing the team up to where they are now. Misbah was not lucky and unlike Virat Kohli he did not inherit a strong winning team. The team had to be rebuild, a new sense of confidence and belief, the correct attitude and discipline to win had to be instilled. During the same period of the rankings India had played 16 Test Matches and won 7 as opposed to 17 matches and 10 wins by Pakistan. Difference is that Pakistan winning all of them out of Pakistan and without considering UAE as their home. India’s away form trumps only against bottom ranking teams of Sri Lanka and West Indies and they have only won one test match outside of the sub-continent and West Indies.
In addition to tests and ODIs they even reached the top of T20 . The win against Sri Lanka in 2009 finals in Lords was a comfortable one against a top Sri Lankan batting line up comprised of Jayasuriya, Dilshan, Mahela and Sangakkara,. Afridi the explosive batsman once again rose to the occasion like he did against the same opponents in 1997 in Nairobi when he reached the fastest 100 in ODI cricket at the time.
Pakistan’s struggle was and still is, the inconsistency which three out of the four Asian test nations have in common. Apart from India none of their test playing neighbors have been consistent in performing.
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