Cricket defeat

Pakistan’s preparations for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 received a setback of sorts with the 3-2 defeat against the lowly ranked New Zealand in the ODI series that concluded in the UAE on Friday.

The national team, though clear favourites to win the five-match contest, failed to perform as a well-oiled unit. Their campaign was further dampened by a spate of injuries to key players including skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Bilawal Bhatti and a few others.

Read: New Zealand beat Pakistan for series win

The Kiwis, on the other hand, proved a surprise package as they put up a thoroughly professional, highly competitive show.

Their comprehensive homework on the strengths and weaknesses of the Pakistan players paid off as they successfully managed to blunt match-winners such as Sarfraz Ahmed, Younis Khan and Mohammad Hafeez in most games.

Besides, Kiwi newcomers including Adam Milne, Matt Henry and Anton Devcich did surprisingly well to get the better of their highly rated rivals.

Also read: New Zealand beat Pakistan to level Twenty20 series

What should be of greater concern to Pakistan is that this is their third consecutive ODI series loss in the UAE, coming on the heels of a 4-1 drubbing by the Aussies two months ago.

A similar fate befell the team when it played against Sri Lanka last August.

The other major concern is diminishing bowling resources.

No team can afford to lose match-winning bowlers like Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan or Umar Gul, especially in their build-up campaign for the World Cup which commences in Australia and New Zealand from Feb 14 next year.

However, one heartening factor has been the return to form of mercurial all-rounder Shahid Afridi. The seasoned player looked pretty much in his element as he slammed a flurry of sixes and fours to keep the Kiwi bowlers at bay during the series.

Along with young Haris Sohail who has clearly come of age, he put in some fine all-round performances giving his fans something to cheer about and, perhaps, providing them with a ray of hope vis-à-vis next year’s extravaganza.

Published in Dawn, December 22th, 2014

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Comments (13) Closed

Syed Ali

Dec 22, 2014 05:08am

Pakistan batting side has been weak for a long time but we could give satisfactory performance due to good bowlers. Now we are short of both. Our batsmen can not face fast bowlers with confidence and score runs necesary for an ODI. There is very little chance of success in the coming world cup. We should prepare for the next one with aggressive young batsmen and bowlers.

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Canada

Dec 22, 2014 10:08am

Im not sure but the author seem biased. Match winners like Younis and high praise for Gul, Junaid Khan? Ok maybe if Sarfraz and Shezad were injured I could understand. I think the loss of Ajmal is really hurting having gone from a strong bowling attack to a slightly weak one. Even if he comes back he will not be the same which makes PKs chances close to nil. How could you compare them to such consistent and strong teams like SA, Aus and India?

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Irfan

Dec 22, 2014 10:54am

people who play for their own score at the expense of the team score like ahmed shehzad should be axed. people who have been tried and tested like younis khan, asad shafiq, umer akmal should be excluded. more young players like haris sohail should play ahead of these tried and tested people. misbah and younis should retire. pakistan must find new fast bowlers with genuine pace. you cant win the world cup with the likes of sohail tanvir, anwar ali, bilawal bhatti. in short we need a new team if we ever want to become as good as the top 3 in cricket

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Iqbal Bhai

Dec 22, 2014 11:07am

How could the "preparation" for world cup suffer when we are not preparing at all....... This team is as inconsistent as it can be.... It will be a waste of time to watch them play and crash out of World Cup 2015.... Even if today, we select a team on merit, we can still make to stage 1 or 2 of the World cup....

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Azmeen

Dec 22, 2014 12:08pm

Real setback to Pak Cricket Team is the inability of outstanding bowler Saeed Ajmal and all rounder Hafeez to bowl though the team played well against NL team.

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Whatashame

Dec 22, 2014 12:34pm

Get Rid of Sohail Tanvir, Hafeez,Misbah,Younus,Wahab Riaz,Umer Gul,and the Akmal Family,Problem solved! By the way,What a "Set up" Hafeez and Sohail Tanvir did not play the last Game? They did their Job by making sure Pakistan Lost the Close Matches!

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Abrar-ul-Haque, Virginia

Dec 22, 2014 01:01pm

As always, we sadly and badly lack consistency in our performance. For a long time, the trend remains that after winning a match we somehow pretend that the series is in our pocket. The recent series against Kiwis has been a perfect reflection of this trend. After winning the first match, we lost the second, and said to ourselves 'what'?, and came back again in the third, after which we went to the same mode yet again in the fourth. And when it came to the final, we lost our nerves when it mattered the most, which has been going on for a long time now. We can't move forward until and unless we stop relying on the past performance. We relax before completing the task. Secondly, our bowlers have always dominated the world. However, its first time in our cricket history that we lack the bite which has always been the characteristics of our bowling. We have never been able to find other Imrans, Wasims and Waqars, or our system does not let it happen purposely.

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Prince

Dec 22, 2014 01:29pm

Pakistan has lots of home work to do. Loosing the series to NZ was not a very good sign for the team right before the world cup. Younus Khan is terrific when he is playing test cricket. But failed again in one day game. Do they really want him in the team for world Cup?

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Saima

Dec 22, 2014 02:31pm

Hi guys, Tell me where do you rate the two new comers, Sarfraz and Haris? If you think they perform better than Hafeez, Younis, Asad Shafiq and Jamshed then please do ask the authorities

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butseriouslyok

Dec 22, 2014 06:35pm

Are they really playing to win or playing to lose?

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mo davids

Dec 22, 2014 06:41pm

Time has come to unleash some of the greatest tape ball players as a surprise packet on Australian grounds in WC. The bounce will be same and pace would be same. My 11 would be Sarfaroz Baloch, Naushad Sidiqui, Syed Ali, Atturrahman (Mirawali), Mausuq Ulhaq, Taufiq Kalbeliya, Omer Firdosi, Jahangir Afridi, Wajauulah salaam and Nusratullah (Peshawar). I am specially excited about Taufiq Kalbeliya as he can hit balls routinely over 100 m's and can make bowlers dance to his tunes.

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Kabir Sidhu

Dec 23, 2014 07:01am

Pakistan clearly missed a couple of opportunities in UAE to prepare for WC 2015. First against AUS and finally NZ. I don't NZ being under dogs. They have several exciting players groomed by IPL. I definitely see NZ in final four. The only team Asia in Final Four would be SL. My final four are as follows: Aus, NZ, SA and SL. Love from Ludhiana.

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Azeem

Dec 23, 2014 10:26am

The problem we have is very old one. The authorities NEVER allows/select players on merit. Always the bowlers have been our main weapon not the batsmen. On top of that players like Umar Akmal can play all his life and fail miserably but someone like Fawa Alam who has better record will not even make the cut. There are many examples like that but we the real cricket lovers cannot do anything to break the shackle as the management of Cricket in the country are only concerned with their power and money. In the coming WC Pakistan has no chance going beyond 2nd round at the most. The recent series against NZ is the best comparison to see where we stand. Every time Pakistan bat second, rest assured they'll loose the match. They have no idea how to deal when the runs are hard to come, just watch the last two matches ball by ball and you'll see even our best Ahmed Shahzad or Yunus Khan did not know what to other than hitting straight to cover region in off side and that's it, they were choked to death, I hope Mr Waqr Yunus took note of that. Yet he is demanding now to change the label of CHOKERS>I can write volumes but I know nothing will untill you change yourselve.

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