WITH not much time left for the home series against India, the scales appear to be tipped in favour of the visitors than the hosts. Many would find this opinion a bit harsh and a bit early. But it is neither harsh nor early. Even a cursory glance over the performance of the Indians in Australia, and that of Pakistanis in New Zealand would be enough to pick the favourites, and this is the time to start thinking about what to do and at what pace, to be able to ensure that the homework is done and finished by the time the visitors are here.
The Indians, as is we all know, gave a much impressive account of their present skills in Australia and even the One Day series is not going all too badly. They will carry a lot of momentum into the series against Pakistan and their confidence will definitely be riding high. No doubt, there will be butterflies in their stomachs before the start of the series, but the case will not be any different for the Pakistanis. So that will cancel each other out, and it will be left to the happenings on the ground to decide the fate of the series.
On the other hand, the Pakistanis have not had the kind of outing in New Zealand that they would have liked. While there were a few good individual performances, there was little to set things alight for the team. Had it not been for the lone hand played by Shoaib Akhtar in the second Test, Pakistan might have struggled to clinch the series. And when it came to the One Day part of the outing, the team stood exposed, except for Abdul Razzaq who really played a string of exciting innings that must have done him a world of good. New Zealand is not among the toughest in world cricket, and a 1-4 loss against them has to be taken seriously.
Away from the field also, there have been a few discordant notes backstage, and some of the things that have been carried by the media — both print and electronic — suggest the PCB will have its work cut out once the team starts regrouping for the next assignment.
Shoaib Akhtar is known to be a loudmouth, and it is not the first time he is being accused of causing rifts within the unit and staking claim to the national captaincy. Though he denied it earlier and I am sure he will do it again, smoke without fire is not an everyday happening. The PCB will do well to make him realize that he first needs to be a regular member of the side before he starts nurturing such hopes. As it is, he misses more Tests and One Dayers for varying reasons than anyone else who happens to be in serious competition for a slot on the national team.
The media, as is its wont, needs some story to keep its own mechanism going, and all of a sudden and for no particular reason, the media has started talking about the possibility of a change in the captaincy. This is an easy way of causing confusion within our own ranks.
The matter surrounding Shabbir’s bowling action, again, has come at the wrong time and will naturally put him under considerable pressure. I am sure the PCB would do the corrective work in time, but the series against India will be his first international outing after having been allegedly reported, and he is bound to be jittery about it.
Overall, most things at this point in time seem to favour the Indians more than the Pakistanis. Let’s see how it goes when the series actually gets under way.
WITH not much time left for the home series against India, the scales appear to be tipped in favour of the visitors than the hosts. Many would find this opinion a bit harsh and a bit early. But it is neither harsh nor early. Even a cursory glance over the performance of the Indians in Australia, and that of Pakistanis in New Zealand would be enough to pick the favourites, and this is the time to start thinking about what to do and at what pace, to be able to ensure that the homework is done and finished by the time the visitors are here.
