If Pakistan are somehow able to lift this World Cup, they won’t have Afridi’s bowling to thank. Nor will it be Umar Akmal’s batting, Umar Gul’s death bowling or the myriad of phenomenal performances that members of this squad are capable of pulling out of their hats between now and a hypothesised triumph.

In the event of such a seemingly improbable outcome, Pakistan will have to look back to a muggy evening in the hills of Kandy on March 8, where they were subjected to an epic beating at the hands of international cricket’s most established bunnies. If Pakistan are to taste the exultation of securing the ultimate victory, any and all gratitude must be directed towards the New Zealand team and the magnitude of their defeat of Pakistan on that day. As far as wake-up calls go, this one was akin to replacing the bell of an alarm clock with a sub-atomic explosion.

In their defense, you can’t blame the team and its management for drifting into dreamland given the mesmerising nature of our first two weeks of the World Cup. Coming into the tournament as an established dark horse, Pakistan galloped clear of the rest of the field in the opening exchanges, becoming the first team in either group to ensure its passage to the quarter-finals through a trio of victories, each  of which intoxicating in its own right.

In Hambantota, it was the delight of watching Umar Akmal show the world what we have been telling them he is capable of. At Colombo, it was the pride that comes with toppling a giant in its backyard. And then again at the Premadasa, it was the swagger that accompanies the successful defense of a paltry target. And through it all, was the omnipresence of Shahid Khan Afridi. Spinning, booming, gesticulating – is there any sight as beautiful as Lala in full flow at the epicenter of a game? And so it was that the Pakistan team weaved an elaborate fantasy over the course of their initial encounters.

But look a little closer.

At Hambanota, 240 of the 317 runs were scored between only four batsmen in a side which claims to bat till number 8, with a half-century of extras allowing our batsmen a fair degree of comfort. Against Sri Lanka, the disparity was starker with only two batsmen managing substantial contributions and Pakistan sneaking through despite dropping three catches, “kamran”-ing two stumpings, conceding 29 extras and contriving to foul up a number of run-out opportunities. In our game against Canada, we were absolutely insipid in the first innings. And through it all, Afridi’s talismanic presence has hung over us as a specter of our limitations. In the first three games, he accounted for nearly half our wickets and became his own go-to bowler, single-handedly wrestling games from the hands of the opposition. He has inspired, yes, through the sheer weight of his own awesomeness, but let that not distract us from the lack of awesomeness posed by a potentially dangerous attack which finds itself handicapped by being possibly one man short.

Yet it was easy to ignore all that, spoilt as we were by the riches of consecutive wins which, given our recent (and long-term) troubles, were priceless no matter the circumstances in which they were achieved. There was no doubting that this squad had the talent to ascend to the trophy but there seemed to be an implicit refusal to confront the exact make-up of the playing 11-best-suited to achieve that goal, riding high as they were on their immediate good fortune

Which is why they will thank the day New Zealand brought them crashing back down to Earth.

On another day, New Zealand would have scored perhaps 250 with Ross Taylor being dismissed for 80-odd runs and Kamran’s transgressions merely inciting a few discontented mutterings in the critical sphere, particularly if they were masked by one of his sprightly little cameos. On another day, Razzaq would not have been in a position to bowl crucial latter overs. On another day, Afridi would have picked up another bag of wickets and not betrayed the need for a genuine wicket-taking spinner in the side.

Thank the heavens this was not such a day. Considering we are still only three weeks into this tournament with a lot of cricket yet to play, we owe our eternal gratitude to New Zealand in forcing Waqar, Afridi & Co. to confront the drawing board once again.

During his post-match commentary, Imran Khan was of the view that dropping a player is a sign of panic. I beg to differ. It seems to me that the one conceivable reason a squad features more than 11 players is to allow flexibility in team balance and selection. Fact: Kamran has underperformed in his primary (and secondary) role in the last two games. Fact: Kamran isn’t going to be masterminding run-chases of 300. Fact: Kamran’s brother is a better keeper than him simply by virtue of not being named Kamran. Fact: Umar is wasted at no.6. It seems to be a seamless transition to promote Umar to no.3 and keeping duties at the expense of his brother’s place in the side.

Who, then, would step into Kamran’s shoes? With the over-reliance on Afridi and Gul and the fragility of Shoaib, perhaps Riaz should be added to beef up our attack. Maybe its time to forgive Saeed Ajmal for Michael Hussey’s savagery and put some faith in the portly spinner who once played an important role in a successful World Cup campaign.

These are the questions which New Zealand has forced us to address and their effective resolution before the quarter-final stage may facilitate our passage to our ultimate goal. Waqar Younis’s initial ruminations on the subject aren’t too encouraging as he considers the team to be a batsman short, which is a highly ridiculous assessment (and I’m not even commenting on his inexplicable view to stick with Kamran). But, at the very least, he cannot deny the existence of real problems in the side any longer and must appreciate the need to tackle these issues before they derail our campaign.

So thanks, Kiwis. In kicking our teeth in you may have unwittingly compelled us to undertake some dental work which was long overdue.

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.