With our World Cup campaign done and dusted, I wrote an opinionated review of Sarfraz's XI and their journey at the Cricket World Cup - The Hoax of Fine Margins by Waqas Ahmed. Enjoy
Mickey has been unimaginative in creating a team for Pakistan. He has been part of the team for past 3.5 years under Misbah, Azhar and Sarfraz. He deliberately kept Wahab Riaz out of team, picked Hasnain and Asif but did not use them. The final 11 picked for the games against WI, India and Australia were based on series against England completely ignoring the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent. They were expecting teams to score 370 type scores forgetting that this was WCup. He and Sarfraz decided to bat second against India and Australia ignoring that chasing a 300 plus score in a WCup game is not easy particularly for a team like Pakistan. By the time we realized our mistakes it was already too late. In test matches Mickey’s performance has been even more pathetic. Many times he plays 3 fast bowlers in test matches in UAE. Once even tried to use Nawaz as a 6th batsman that costed us a test match against WI. He has been given enough chances. We now need new ideas to take us forward.
Two things you must mention in this review that pretty much exposes the hard facts and ground realities, and eventually paints a true picture of the event, are; 1 - You had Imran Khan, Tendulkar and Ganguly - all three on the record stating BEFORE the game that they would bat first in that game against India. But our dumb effs put India into bat after winning the toss. This is something not related Pak players being inferior in run rate, low averages, and poor display of skill and performance, but it reflects an absolute numb brain. Seriously, how many times have we won by chasing against India after Miandad’s six in Sharjah? To me, that decision is not a mistake, it’s a crime and must not go unpunished. The whole think tank is answerable - simple basic common sense trumps whatever explanation they provide to support that decision to put India into bat after winning the toss. If your “top floor” is empty, you don’t belong to the “Think Tank”. It’s simple and obvious. 2 - After four years of prep, we had to scramble and dismiss the bowling attack at the last minute. Both Wahab and Amir were not recognized and recommend by him. What exactly is Azhar Mehmood doing in this setup? I don’t he belongs here. Hasan Ali lost his magic and this highly paid specialist bowling coach couldn’t do crap about it - but yes, he did say, “I HOPE Hasan will find form as well” and that too, after Wasim Akram gave a few tips to Shaheen who then started to take some wickets - otherwise Shaheen was also getting his rear end handed to him by the opposition batsmen. Someone needs to tell him that, “HOPE is not a PLAN”. Mickey may or may not be retained but Azhar Mehmood did not produce the goods and was not able to prove his worth after fours of prep - he must be released.
Dropping Wahab was justified at the time. He was being thrashed. Time off has done him good. Guaranteed fans will also complain about he’s replacement after a year or so.
When did Inzi leave and stop meddling in the playing 11? I have a feeling we started winning as soon as he left. On another note though our fielding is still atrocious in this day and age where sports professionalism ( conditioning, preparation, fitness, planning and learning) is unprecedented we are still amateurs and living in the 70's. I have never seen Pakistan field well so much so that I think its genetics however they will never be consistently successful without professionalism. We also don't invest in our cricketers and infrastructure and unless we do it will always be hit and miss. Individuals with talent having a good day will get us some wins now and then not as a consequence of a professional system like teh Indians now have. They used to be similar to us but have moved on. Even England has moved on. Aussies usually get it right.
