The pattern of Pakistan’s defeat was familiar. A par bowling and fielding performance followed by timidity with the bat and no hunger to win whatsoever.

IT was a heavy night for Pakistan here at the Eden Gardens on Saturday. Their 93-run humbling by England represented the meltdown Pakistan have gone through after coming into the World Cup as one of the favourite teams.

Ranked number one in the One-day Internationals hardly two months ago, the Babar Azam-led side were a bit too high on confidence before the tournament had started.

Responding to a reporter’s question if Pakistan were confident about making the semi-finals during a press conference in Lahore before departing for the event, Babar had said: “Top four? this is such a small thing to aim for. We will look to win the World Cup.”

Babar’s statement showed the Pakistan captain’s utter ignorance towards a few unnoticed yet important facts. One of them was the green-shirts had achieved the coveted top spot without having faced better-placed sides, or say, against the world’s top players for the last three years.

Playing against either lower-ranked or second-string sides, Pakistan managed to elude some of the major demands of modern-day cricket: attacking mindedness with the bat, lethality with the ball and dynamism in the field.

Against elite teams during the World Cup, Pakistan found themselves clueless. They had to work their way to a win against minnows Netherlands before a special batting performance covered for a horrific show with the ball against Sri Lanka.

Against India, Australia and Afghanistan, Pakistan were totally outclassed before they put somehow better shows against Bangladesh and New Zealand ahead of the final fixture against England to eventually finish fifth.

The players and the team management, led by director Mickey Arthur, can be held accountable for the turn of events but the Pakistan Cricket Board’s poor running of affairs cannot be spared as well.

Being run by a second interim management committee and third chairman in a period of less than 12 months, the PCB has been inconsistent and reactive in its decision making at the least.

The impact of PCB’s handling of team-related affairs generated unavoidable outside noise for the Pakistan players, who were undeniably affected by it mentally.

With the World Cup now history for them, Pakistan need a way forward and consistency to back it up.

Who will do it is a crucial question, with even the PCB’s interim management committee unsure about its future.

Arthur, who was appointed hardly six months before the World Cup, admitted Pakistan would struggle without consistency at all levels.

“We know exactly where we need to go to, we need to know what we need to do,” Arthur said during the post-match press conference.

“But ultimately, we can only control what we can. We’ve got to stay consistent around our selection, around our messaging, and allow those guys an environment which allows them to play to the best of their ability.”

The South African suggested the outside noise due to unstable administrative affairs played its part in Pakistan’s failed shot at the World Cup, while adding the players needed to be protected from it.

“There’s some very young players who get affected by all the ramifications of what goes on the outside,” said Arthur. “..we’ve just got to stay consistent for them because it’s their careers and there’s some very fine players there.”

Arthur believed many upgrades were required on the field as well and that Pakistan weren’t a better team than the ones who qualified for the semi-finals.

“I don’t think we played our best game here,” he noted. “I really believe the best four teams in the competition are now playing the semi-finals.

“Our game needs to go to another level.”

The former Australia coach said Pakistan would have been a better bowling unit had it not missed paceman Naseem Shah due to injury.

However, he called for a revamped batting approach.

“Batting-wise, we have to become a 330-350 team,” he insisted. “And I don’t think we’ve done that consistently enough. We do that when Fakhar Zaman comes off and we can’t just be relying on one-on-one player.”

‘BABAR WILL LEARN’

Babar’s captaincy also came under fire during the World Cup, after already being subjected to criticism ahead of it.

Pakistan’s ouster from the 50-over showpiece saw speculations of the captain stepping down resurface.

Arthur said Babar was still on his way to becoming a good captain, and that he should be given time for that.

“He learns every day with his captaincy,” the coach said of Babar. “He’s growing and we have to allow him the time to grow. And in order to do that, you make mistakes.”

All-rounder Shadab Khan, Babar’s deputy, also echoed Arthur’s take on Pakistan’s failure to perform according to the modern-day standards of the sport.

Leg-spinner Shadab, who had an extremely poor show as Pakistan’s main spin option, believed the team’s bowling attack, including himself, was disappointing.

“I had said before the tournament that if we bowl according to our potential, we could win the tournament, but unfortunately we did not,” Shadab told reporters after the match, while adding that Pakistan would need to learn batting like the top sides in the world to raise their success rate.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2023