Pakistan’s recent victory in the two-Test series against Australia in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have taken everyone by surprise. The critics as well as the fans have been left wondering how the winning magic suddenly returned to the team after losing the T20 clash and the One-day International series to the same opponents barely a week before and in identical environment.

The win has brought tremendous joy to the nation and everyone have been amused by the turnaround. But while the team’s performance must be appreciated, we must also look into the factors that fashioned the unexpected victory.

Basically, it were the outstanding efforts of Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Misbah-ul-Haq in batting and the heroics of Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah in bowling that brought about the historic triumph. This was certainly not magic but sheer application and hardwork. The team’s upward graph developed gradually with a lot of logic being worked into it.

The success story began after Pakistan lost the third and final ODI where Misbah was compelled to sit out by Moin Khan and company. The conspiracy of the team management was brutally exposed and criticised across the country by ex-players and fans. But cricket is a funny game and sometimes even negative moves can have a positive impact. The arrival of Younis in the UAE for the Test series helped Misbah to rebuild his confidence since he was earlier kept under pressure by the team management. Moin Khan and company had been jolting Misbah and their attitude towards the skipper was very harsh because they were working on a nefarious plot.

The two men, Younis and Misbah, courageously stood up to the menace and eventually emerged as the real heroes of this proud moment in the nation’s history.

On the other hand, the Australians suddenly found themselves under tremendous pressure when their world-class bowling, spearheaded by Mitchell Johnson, could not deliver under difficult conditions in the first innings of Dubai Test and the Pakistan batsmen put a big score on the board. As the match progressed, they got increasingly demoralised and found it extremely hard to make a come back. Realising the situation, the Pakistani batsmen took full advantage of it, as was evident by Younis’ flourish and Sarfraz’s exhilarating hundred in the lower order.

And that’s how the momentum swung in favour of the Pakistan team. It is pertinent to mention here that nothing new had happened, except that the same set of players who appeared a struggling bunch in the ODIs mainly due to the poor dressing room environment, dirty politics and favouristism, were now brimming with confidence with a definite spring in their feet.

As soon as Younis and Misbah started performing, they got the control back on the players, and the game. Of course, the poor form of the Australian players, too, contributed greatly to the changed fortunes of the Pakistan team.

The two senior most players of the team, who are totally committed to Pakistan cricket, wanted to prove Moin and company wrong, and they did. They took it upon themselves as a challenge to put things right and led from the front with their magnificent performance to defeat the designs of the villains in the dressing room. It was this kind of focussed motivation that provided them the confidence and self-belief, two vital components required to transform oneself.

Needless to say, their revenge mood rubbed off on the fellow players. The entire team’s morale went sky high. The conditions — the pitch, the climate, the crowd support — which were in Pakistan’s favour from the outset, started to fall in place; amazing what self belief can do to your personality.

Actually, it was the duty of the team management to provide this sort of confidence to the players, especially in the lead up to a tough series such as the one against Australia. Instead, they became too busy playing politics.

I cannot help but praise our spinners here. The wily Zulfiqar availed the opportunity and proved that he is a quality bowler. Along with talented debutant Yasir who made most of the chances that came his way, Zulfiqar bamboozled the Aussies.

Way back in 1982, I was part of the Pakistan team which had whitewashed the Australian team led by Kim Hughes. We had overpowered them in all three Test matches under the dynamic leadership of Imran Khan who inculcated tremendous self-belief in the players. I strongly believe that the players cannot be transformed with changes in techniques or by making them go through strenuous regimes, except mentally. Most of them are average players (with few exceptions no doubt), but as long as they are given the required confidence and an environment of trust by team management they will deliver hundred per cent on the field. It is important to understand this key point, otherwise this cycle can be reversed very quickly.

If the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is interested in ensuring this winning momentum is kept up well into the upcoming World Cup, it will have to act firmly in the right direction and remove the people responsible for spoiling the dressing room atmosphere and for creating all the chaos that brought Pakistan cricket on the threshold of disaster.

The writer is a former Test cricketer and Level-III qualified coach

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2014