Cricket

NA body raises objection over NOC issuance

NA body raises objection over NOC issuance

It is some indication of the level of self-belief in the national cricketing establishment that even a 2-3 loss to a second-string Australian side is being taken as some sort of a relief because it may well have been 1-4, or even 0-5.

For a team that was desperate for some international cricket after being given the cold shoulder even by minnows like Bangladesh, the lack of fight put up by the unit was surprising. The final scoreline hardly reflects the gap between the two sides in terms of their approach towards the game. The Australians were more intense on the field, with the newcomers trying to make the most of an opportunity that had come their way because of the absence of key players for one reason or the other.

The Pakistani approach, on the other hand, was not clear-headed. The decision to rest Umar Gul, the only paceman in the side with the ability to strike, was indicative of that confusion within the camp. Talking of a rotational policy was preposterous in a side starved of on-field activity; especially in a match that was crucial to Pakistan in terms of keeping the series alive. Instead of putting their best foot forward in the crunch game, they preferred to rest the much-rested player. Having lost the series, they fielded a full-strength side even including a half-fit Shahid Afridi when they could have given him a rest and played Fawad Alam who kept waiting in the wings. Taken to logical conclusion, the strategy would suggest that Pakistan was more interested in a 2-3 scoreline than a possible 3-2.

There were a few things that came out of the UAE outing. Afridi returned to form. In fact, he came out, as they say, firing on all cylinders. He was the highest wicket-taker on either side, claiming 10 for an average of 17.4 per wickets and at an economy rate of 3.7 runs per over. Barring the last match in which Misbahul Haq and Kamran Akmal put up a decent partnership, Afridi was clearly the most consistent batsmen with 111 runs in the four innings that he played. More than that, he showed maturity in his shot selection and a new-found desire to spend some time in the middle. In many ways, he was a revelation.

At the other extreme was Shoaib Akhtar who was sailing in the same boat as Afridi before the start of the series, with big question marks dangling against their future prospects with the team. Being the team’s main strike weapon – supposedly, one may add for good measure – it was a pity that Shoaib could bowl only 27 overs in the series; Afridi, by the way, bowled 47. It was sheer relief – if not downright ecstasy – that Shoaib never broke down and always left the field on his own two legs. Beyond that, he was good for little else.

His spell at the beginning of the last match left little doubt in anybody’s mind about the huge distance that separates Shoaib and fitness. There was a visible limp in his legs and he was labouring through his run-up. There was no follow-through worth its name and so tired was he that even when he got a wicket against the run of play, he had no energy in him to celebrate. He ended the series taking three wickets for 152 runs at an average of 50.66 per wicket with a strike rate of 54 balls per wicket and an economy rate of 5.66 per over.

It was hardly the stuff expected of him, but Shoaib could still bask in glory of some kind; his two wickets in the fourth match of the series was the first time he had taken more than a wicket in the shorter version of the game since his 3/42 against India at Mohali on November 8, 2007. Not that he had been getting one-wicket ‘hauls’ on a consistent basis, but two-wicket ‘bursts’ have been well and truly rare. The one in Abu Dhabi came a mere 539 days after that historic day in Mohali.

Interestingly – in fact, intriguingly – there is another wait that has yet to come to an end. The last time Shoaib bowled his full quota of ten overs in an ODI dates back to Nov 15, 2007. He never bowled more than seven in a match during the series against Australia. This means 541 days and  still counting. If nothing else, let’s stop calling him our ‘main weapon’. After all, weapons are meant to cause damage to opponents, aren’t they?