Pakistan have a steep mountain to climb after loss against India

Jaideep Marar 19:54 05/06/2017
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  • Pakistan had their fitness issues [Getty Images]

    India’s successes against Pakistan in big ticket events, very convincing in recent times, has taken the fizz out of the contest between the arch-rivals.

    Sunday’s game was another in the long list of Indian victories — 12 in 15 meetings (plus one win via a Bowl Out) — across World Cup, World T20 and Champions Trophy tournaments. It mostly has to do with Pakistan’s ineptness to capitalise on crucial moments, often leading to crashing defeats.

    Sunday’s game had started on a positive note for Sarfraz Ahmed’s side when he won the toss and chose to field under cloudy skies. Although the pitch was ideal for batting, the overcast conditions were perfect for Pakistan bowlers to unsettle the Indians.

    Their key bowler Mohammad Amir bowled a testing first over to justify their decision to bowl first. Surprisingly, Pakistan loosened the grip soon after.

    Instead of opening with another fast bowler from the other end, they resorted to the left-arm spin of Imad Wasim. It was a poor tactic because the world knows Indians are better players of spin than pace and this ploy was bound to backfire. And it did because it was abetted by poor fielding, a weakness that has been Pakistan’s ally ever since they played their first Test 70 years ago.

    Sarfraz had promised some out of the box tactics ahead of the match and if this was it then the Indians certainly hit it out of the park. It allowed two out of form batsmen to bed in so well that they ended up laying a solid platform of 136 runs for the first wicket.

    All Sarfraz had to do was throw the ball to Hasan Ali, who has been their best wicket-taking bowler in the last two years (30 wickets from 17 one-day internationals) instead of Wasim and the game could have taken a different turn.

    Another wrong move was to include Wahab Riaz in the playing eleven. The 31-year-old had fitness issues before the game (dodgy knee) yet he was preferred over Junaid Khan, who had taken 4-73 against Bangladesh in their warm-up game.

    Agreed Riaz is an experienced hand and he had rattled the Indians and Australians at the 2011 and 2015 World Cups respectively, but he has been ordinary over the last two years. His best in his last 14 ODIs has been 2-28 against the West Indies at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi in October 2016 and his economy rate has been 6.47 in the same period.

    It was not a surprise that Riaz fared miserably, conceding 87 runs from his 8.4 overs before limping out with a troubled ankle.

    Wahab Riaz's bowling wasn't up to the mark [Getty Images]

    Wahab Riaz’s bowling wasn’t up to the mark [Getty Images]

    Fielding has never been a strong suit for Pakistan, so to see them misfield and drop catches was nothing unusual. But more appalling was their inability to play smart cricket, a redeeming feature of the Pakistan sides of the eighties and nineties when every duel against India used to be a needle game of cricket.

    It was not as if India were dominant throughout at Edgbaston. They had their tense moments but every time Pakistan allowed them to get out of jail.

    When Virat Kohli came in after the fall of Dhawan, Pakistan should have pressed a pacer into service as the Indian captain is most vulnerable to fast bowlers early in his innings. The persistence with young Shadab Khan, who had taken Dhawan’s wicket, was fine but to continue with Wasim at the other end, instead of a fast bowler, was a tactical blunder.

    Sarfraz woke up late and by the time he replaced Wasim with Amir, Kohli had settled in to score 15 off 16 balls. He hung on till the end, remaining unbeaten on 81, to help India to a massive total.

    Even when Pakistan batted, there was no game plan on how to chase down the formidable target. There were no surprises in the batting order nor did the batsmen show any urgency to go after the bowling.

    Ideally, Sarfraz should have taken charge and batted up the order at No.3 because he is a busy player and keeps the scoreboard ticking.

    The only bright moment for Pakistan was when Shoaib Malik was at the crease but that too didn’t last long as he was run-out by the magical Ravindra Jadeja.

    Fitness was another area that Pakistan seriously lacked and it showed in their fielding where players took long to reach the ball allowing the Indians easy singles and twos.

    The breakdown of their leading fast bowlers – Amir and Riaz – was another indicator of their poor fitness levels. Even while batting, they did not appear to have the stamina to push for singles and test the Indians, who were also having a bad day in the field.

    Pakistan were lacking in all aspects of the game and it casts serious doubts about their progress in the tournament. They are the lowest-ranked team in the tournament at No.8 and they played like one leaving themselves with a steep mountain to climb.

    They will be up against an in-form South Africa, also the top ODI ranked team, on Wednesday and a slightly better off Sri Lanka (World No.6) on June 11.

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