KARACHI: On a warm Sunday evening at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi, the crowds had finally filled the stands.

The metropolis’ cricket fans hadn’t shown much love to the sport in the preceding two matches, but they were there to celebrate Pakistan captain Babar Azam’s century of One-day International outings in the fifth and final match of the series against New Zealand last month.

Babar walked in with “100” printed on the back of his jersey, which normally dons a “56”, but on this day, the occasion was special.

If not on the in-form, swashbuckling Fakhar Zaman, the spectators’ expectations to make their visit to the venue worth their money were pinned Babar. But to their utter disappointment, the skipper faltered early, finding the fielder at backward point with a shot that would have been a cracking square-drive on another day.

Silence followed. So did the wickets of Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar.

Heavily reliant on their top three in the format since the start of 2022, this should have been over for Pakistan.

Spoiler Alert! They did go on to lose the match. But not before a fighting show by Iftikhar Ahmed and Salman Ali Agha — a demonstration of the newly-adopted, newly-coined “Pakistan Way”, which, under Pakistan’s recently appointed team director Mickey Arthur, is set to be the team’s core philosophy.

THE PAKISTAN WAY

After Arthur was announced as the team director during the New Zealand series — before which Grant Bradburn and Rehan-ul-Haq had already taken over as the side’s head coach and manager respectively — the squad and their new team management gathered in the meeting room at their Islamabad hotel.

Arthur had a clear idea in his mind about the kind of cricket he wanted Pakistan to play. And it was precisely expecting the players to play the best high-quality cricket as they can as a group, given their potential. The message was clear; win or lose, but not without a “culture”.

“The whole team was sitting in the room and we made a graph and a chart on which we described that no matter how many matches we win without a culture or without an identity, it is bound to fail in the long run,” Rehan tells Dawn. “But if you have a culture and an identity, then, over a long run, it will eventually succeed, and that success would be long-term.”

The “culture” in question is what the new Pakistan team management calls “The Pakistan Way”, the values of which will ideally stem from a trait a Pakistani is commonly associated to; resilience.

“The idea behind the ‘Pakistan Way’ is to incorporate Pakistan’s identity as a people into the team,” explains Rehan. “When you think of a Pakistani, the first word that’s comes in your mind is ‘resilient’.

“We are very resilient as a nation and it shows in our cricket team as well.”

Rehan goes on to elaborate how resilience as a characteristic has brought the best out of the Pakistan cricket team historically.

“When we are pushed against the wall, when Pakistan are cornered, especially in major tournaments — be it the 1992 World Cup, the 2017 Champions Trophy and even last year’s T20 World Cup, they always bounce back,” he observes. However, only being able to bounce back when cornered is a high-risk strategy and Arthur and co. are here to make slight alterations to this mentality.

“Rather than waiting to be cornered to respond this way, ‘The Pakistan Way’ is about showing that intent from the word go,” says Rehan.

Arthur and Bradburn, Rehan reveals, want the players to prefer an attacking action before a defensive one.

“If a player has reached the top level while successfully executing certain skill throughout his career, why not execute it again,” he says. “So it’s about getting the players out of their shell, to have them express themselves a little more, to be a little louder in the way they play in the way they behave on the field while staying within the rules and regulations.”

The concepts of culture, philosophy or a certain mental approach towards the sport haven’t been much popular in the history of cricket at least. In Pakistan cricket, it is hard to find examples of such systems. Convincing players who have been brought up through it was always going to be a challenge. But it did not turn out to be as such.

“Players who have played at the international level are well aware of it challenges,” says Rehan. “They know that if they don’t improve their game every day, if they don’t give themselves new goals, they will be left behind.

“The idea that was proposed to them was all about taking challenges in an attempt to step up their game. The players understood it and they were on board easily.”

GLIMPSES OF NEW PHILOSOPHY

Glimpses of the Pakistan way were on show during New Zealand series, Arthur, Bradburn and Rehan’s first assignment in their new roles. Pakistan chased down targets of 300 and 337 in the first two ODIs at Rawalpindi with Fakhar starring with centuries in both before Imam-ul-Haq and Babar delivered match-performances in the next two games in Karachi.

But what was even more impressive was how other players took responsibility during the series.

“In the first two one-dayers, no one doubted that we wouldn’t be able to chase the scores,” says Rehan. “In the third match in Karachi, Shadab Khan chipped in with a 21 off 10, Shaheen Shah Afridi scored quickfire 30 odd, Salman Ali Agha did well in a couple of matches and Iftikhar made contributions in two matches.. so it’s also about players other than the top three taking responsibility.”

But the New Zealand series only wouldn’t be enough for the “Pakistan Way” to leave a deep imprint on the national side’s identity. Rehan calls for patience from all stakeholders attached to the sport and that it is the only way for the new system to reap the fruit.

“… one series, one month, one day won’t take us to the next level, we need time for it,” says the former Islamabad United manager. “It’s a process which will take time.

“Everyone; the players, the fans the media the coaches, the management needs to be patient if they want to see results at the end of this process.”

The new team management has devised a strategy for the “Pakistan Way” to trickle down the system into the Pakistan Shaheens and U-19 sides as well as the domestic cricket system.

“The training camps for the Pakistan Shaheens and the U-19s will be arranged roughly on the same dates as that of the senior team,” reveals Rehan. “The messaging will be the same from top to bottom and the expectations from the players, in accordance with their roles will be clear. If you are taking the next step from being a domestic player to an international player you should already be aware of the cultural challenges, the identity challenges and also the performance challenges of international cricket.”

Published in Dawn, May 27TH, 2023