IT is examination time once again for Pakistan. Thankfully for them, the syllabus is not too challenging. It never was. But the lack of confidence and self belief in the embattled army of Misbah-ul-Haq make the lowly-ranked Zimbabwe their fiercest opponents ever.

More than a week has passed since Pakistan’s nightmarish drubbing at the hands of Jason Holder’s West Indies at Christchurch. While one would like to believe that the players have used this break to regroup and overcome the early shocks in this World Cup, including the opening game defeat against India, the numerous off-field events have another story to tell altogether.

Making headlines have been fielding coach Grant Ludin’s fall out with the players as well as spoiled brat Ahmed Shehzad’s never ending tantrums. The debate over senior pro Younis Khan retaining his place in the team has also intensified while Umar Akmal’s sloppy show behind the stumps has been a famous talking point as well. However, the icing on the cake has been chief selector Moin Khan’s stint at the casino and his subsequent summoning from Australia by the PCB which has been a real dampener for the team and its chances in the tournament.

Pakistan cricket team’s many gruelling workouts have been in the news too. But with so much happening off the field, the strenuous training on it could barely make amends at this stage.

Wasim Akram, for one, was spot on last week when he advised the players to relax to come back fresh for the Zimbabwe clash. “All these long meetings and discussions and hard training will do no good,” said Wasim while talking to a private TV channel. “What has happened cannot be changed but now the players must regroup and come back fresh in remaining matches.”

The advice, unfortunately, have fallen on deaf ears, or so it seems. The training sessions have continued unabated, leaving the players bitter and jaded.

The hard truth is that with so many factors to bog them down, no kind of workout, strategy, gameplan or batting order can prop up Pakistan. If anything, they simply need to take a leaf out of Australian cricket to know how a game of cricket should be played. Fearlessly.

At Auckland on Saturday, the Aussies epitomized their style of fearless cricket by storming back to catch a rampant New Zealand off guard in a game where a defeat for Michael Clarke’s men was a foregone conclusion. Indeed, they ended on the losing side but not before scaring the hell out of the Black Caps who were earlier seen beating their chests after having skittled out the Aussies for a paltry 151.

The one counter-measure Misbah needs to adopt today to match his thousand and one statements this week is to tell his men to play fearlessly, regardless of the result.

Yes it’s a do-or-die game and yes the element of caution should be there to keep alive the team’s chances. It is imperative, however, that they emerge as snarling tigers against Zimbabwe at Brisbane rather than being cornered fools at the wicket that they have been so far.

Published in Dawn March 1st , 2015

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