LAHORE: The junior cricket team’s fortunes weren’t any different than those of the senior team.

Pakistan made an early exit from the Asia Junior Cup on Tuesday after losing to Sri Lanka by 23 runs in their last pool match in Bangladesh.

The loss capped a disastrous tournament in which the team. selected by Basit Ali and coached by Azam Khan, managed just one victory, against minnows Hong Kong.

Last month, the senior team also won their only first round match against Hong Kong. The victory against Hong Kong for the junior team followed defeats to Bangladesh by three wickets and then to Sri Lanka, failing to qualify for the semi-finals.

The statistics too provide grim reading.

The team failed to cross 190 runs in any of their three matches with not a single batsman being able to aggregate a 100 runs. Waqar Ahmed was the top run-getter with 91 with the best of 67. Saim Ayub (66) was second best and with Rohail Nazir (65) following him.

Only pacer Arshad Iqbal provided some solid performances with the ball, returning with six wickets for 34 runs after being tested in the last match against Sri Lanka. Another pacer Naseem Shah picked up six wickets while giving away 114 runs with best figures of 5-13 against Bangladesh. Junaid Khan returned with four wickets for 102 runs.

The dismal show comes after Pakistan were thrashed by 185 runs by Afghanistan in the final of the last edition, crashing out to 63 while chasing 249.

While Afghanistan’s senior team showed commendable performances at Asia Cup, it’s junior team is showing continous growth. Pakistan cricket, meanwhile, is showing alarming decline on all levels.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2018