‘CRICKET is played in the mind’ is a dictum that goes round and round since ages in the game’s circuit and applies perfectly when a tactical manoeuvre brings in the desired result in a match.

Captains, batsmen and bowlers or even people who manage this game at the highest level do possess that kind of flair and it works if they are thoughtful enough to capitalise on the opportunities that come their way.

This is not only true where cricket is played but also in day to day life where one has to be a mind reader, as good as a thinking bowler plotting the downfall of a set batsman or a batsman who with his gifted talent with the bat flays the bowlers and takes charge of the situation.

The game-plan is important and it works but not always because cricket is also such an unpredictable game that at times mind-boggling things happen such as Pakistan getting out for their lowest recently despite all the efforts and planning put into the series before it started. At professional level, it is vital to have a backup and all the resources available when required because it really helps.

To go with that, any international outfit competing at the highest level needs to have people who are competent enough to deliver including the players, the captain, manager of the team and whoever else is in charge of the situation.

We need to accept the fact that this lot is not the best that we have had when compared to the recent past or with those who donned the Pakistan cap before them.

Consistency in all departments of the game is necessary to excel and the lack of it has obviously affected the Pakistan team’s performance on this tour. A batsman here or a bowler there comes out showing that if others had displayed with the same zest and skill, things would have been slightly more encouraging in the final reckoning.

Mind games do pay off but it is also important that those in limelight also know how to handle the pressure situations with the ball and the bat as well.

Those who were able to reach the pinnacle and are remembered as the greats of the game like Bradman, the Chappells, Lindwall, Lillee, Sobers, Hutton, Hobbs, Compton, Hanif, Zaheer, Imran and Miandad, Gavaskar, Dravid and Tendulkar, Richards and Lara, Wasim and Waqar were not just the few who excelled because they knew how to handle the pressure but there were many others who applied their tactics and their brain to change the complexion of a contest when it really mattered.

The present lot that Pakistan have desperately lack in skill and talent that some of the greats of Pakistan cricket possessed before them.

They were men who worked hard to earn the ‘great’ tag through single-minded dedication and focus on the game. That reminds me of Javed Miandad, one of the greatest batsmen of our era. Miandad like Imran knew exactly what this game was all about and with his bat he continued to prove his skills no matter where he played.

On the West Indies tour of 1987-88, Imran Khan the captain used the ploy he needed to get the best out of Miandad by telling the media that Miandad’s greatness could only be confirmed if he scored a century against the West Indian pace battery because he had not scored one against them till then.

Miandad, like a fighter that he was, stood up to the challenge by first scoring an ODI hundred on the tour and then slamming successive Test hundreds at Guyana and Trinidad to not only assert his status as truly great player of the game but earn Pakistan a draw in the tough series.

That’s what is called the will and determination that separates the greats from the ordinary.

There are many such examples in Pakistan cricket. Wasim and Waqar at their prime regularly destroyed the good and great batsmen of their time with venomous pace and control over the ball.

Not now. The unending struggle of our batsmen against pace and lack of direction in the inexperienced bowling at our disposal and the inability of it to keep up the pressure has let the team down in South Africa On the first day of the final Test here at the SuperSport Park, Pakistan without much experience in their bowling had in fact done well to reduce Graeme Smith’s men to 133-5 but then allowed them to wriggle out of the situation and dominate due to some wayward bowling and endemically poor fielding as the hosts piled up a total of 409.

Rahat Ali, playing only in his second Test, did bag a haul of six wickets but those who witnessed his spells would know how poorly he bowled.

Dropped catches and patchy ground fielding all contributed to the tourists’ frustration which built up pressure on their batsmen in the post lunch period as wickets fell at quick intervals with no one really standing up to the Proteas bowling.

What is needed here to get out of this rut now, forget about the mind games here and make use of the thing which is in their hands — to strike the ball solidly and get some runs, finally.