PAKISTAN have made a wrong-footed start to their five-match ODI series against England by losing the first game by 44 runs on D/L Method after rain had curtailed play.

It was wishful thinking by Azhar Ali and his men if they harboured any hopes of defeating England with just 260 runs on the board on a pitch that was very true for batting.

I feel that at least a 290-run target would have put some pressure on this strong England side which has the likes of Jason Roy, Joe Root, Jos Butler, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood in its line-up. Pakistan, at one point, did look set for a sizeable score but Shoaib Malik as usual could not force the pace and left the task to young fellows Imad Wasim and Mohammad Nawaz to use the long handle against some tight English bowling.

Earlier, although skipper Azhar Ali scored 82, he started cautiously and was further bogged down by back to back dismissals of Sharjeel Khan and Mohammad Hafeez.

Sarfraz Ahmed once again showed his class in the middle-order with another fluent knock while Baber Azam’s enterprising innings was cut short by an awful umpiring decision. Having said that, I feel that Pakistan’s lower and middle-order lack the presence of a couple of sloggers who can change the complexion of the game in matter of minutes with some lusty blows over the fence.

But all said and done, I am still a bit puzzled at Pakistan’s defeat at Southampton. In my opinion, they had prepared well enough for the series by first playing the Ireland game and then doing some hard training at their favourite venue, the Ageas Bowl, where they beat England in the last Test to square the recent series.

Their confidence was high, and mentally too, they appeared in good shape. On top of that, they won the toss. With all these positive on their side, they still ended up at the losing end.

I feel that the deficiencies in players’ attitude and the way they play the game remain a key problem here. These are old habits that die hard and need long-term working to put them right. For instance, none of the top order Pakistan batsmen have outstanding or even decent strike rates, the bowlers lack control and variety as well. There there is the key factor of batting attitude and our batsmen are hardly ever playing according to match requirements. The fielding standards, of course, remain poor.

The reason for this, as far as I could understand, is that they are not fully motivated to give a team performance. Captain Azhar Ali in his post match media briefing said that “we have realized our short-comings and will definitely rectify them in the next match at Lord’s.” However, I would really be interested to know how the team management will rectify the problems in just these two days.

In my book, the only way forward is to play aggressively. Pakistan will have to take calculated risks and both captain and the management will have to give confidence to the players that they can win. But for that, of course, the captain has to lead from the front with a big heart.

Also, in my opinion, Pakistan must review the team combination for the second game. Yasir Shah should be in the playing XI since the team needs a bowler who can buy wickets and who never allows the batsmen to relax.

As for the opening fast bowling pair, I feel that Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz should do the attack start as they have the capacity to provide an early break through.

I am sure that if our players and coaches put their mind to it and work out a professional strategy and apply it well, we can win the contest.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2016