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All those of a certain age will remember Wasim Akram saying, “I am happy we lost to our brothers,” after Pakistan were over-trumped by Bangladesh in the 1999 World Cup. A team comprising Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq, Inzamam-ul Haq, Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi and Saleem Malik among others, a team that would play the final, had gone belly-up against World Cup debutants in Northampton.
Yet, if Akram didn’t look upset at the post-match interview, it could have been because the game was inconsequential as Pakistan had already qualified to the next stage, the Super Six. Or, because it was the 62-run defeat was a one-off, an upset because Pakistan had easily won the previous six games between the teams. The sub-text was clear: bring them on another time and you know who will win.
You can’t say that going into Tuesday’s game here ahead of which chief selector Inzamam resigned and an inquiry committee set up to probe conflict of interest influencing World Cup squad selection. That is just one proof of how the mighty have fallen. At Eden for the first time in seven years, Pakistan’s sub-par campaign this time is reminiscent of Shafqat Amanat Ali’s rendition of the national anthem during the 2016 WorldT20 here, one the brilliant playback singer had attributed to “audio and technical issues”.
Mohammad Rizwan is Pakistan’s highest scorer with 333 runs, nearly 100 behind Quinton de Kock who is in pole position. In a tournament where Adam Zampa and Mitchell Santner are among the top three wicket-takers, there is no spinner from Pakistan in the top 20. Among the fast bowlers, Harris Rauf has struggled with line and length, Naseem Shah is missing due to a shoulder injury and though Shaheen Shah Afridi has 13 wickets, he hasn’t been the sultan of swing he usually is.
Winners in 1992, six-time semi-finalists and a team that stretched the all-conquering West Indies in 1975, Pakistan have slipped south since 1999, the 2011 semi-final being the exception that proves the rule. Pakistan have notched up two firsts they would rather not on this passage through India. The defeat to South Africa was the first time in the ODI World Cup that they had failed to defend a score of over 275. And never before have they lost four games in a row in this version of the World Cup.
“At the start, there was a lot of hurt in the camp,” said head coach of Pakistan, Grant Bradburn, referring to the one-wicket loss in Chennai. Having put some distance between that defeat and now, Bradburn said Pakistan had “probably left 20 to 30 runs out in the middle” because their batters could not go “deep enough in the innings.” It has been a recurring problem, he said.
It would take more than one press conference to explain a debacle but with long answers, you couldn’t fault Bradburn, a former Pakistan fielding coach who along with director Micky Arthur joined last April, for not trying. Pakistan’s No. 1 rank, he said, were “skewed because we don’t get to play India and don’t get to play a lot of the top nations who haven’t been to Pakistan of late.” We have not been the best in the world as yet which highlights where we are in this tournament now, said Bradburn. The coach also said that six months was not enough to take a team “playing a gear or two below.”
The least they can do now is win their remaining games and then “allow fate to be hopefully leaning on us in terms of our semi-final hopes,” said Bradburn.
Saying they were not looking beyond the game against Pakistan, Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan stalled attempts at post-mortem of a campaign that has continued to unspool after the win against Afghanistan. There has been a lot of “aalap (discussion)” after the 87-run loss to Netherlands, he said. “But talk is cheap when it is not working. So, we’ll do it at the ground…”
Visibly downcast after the defeat to Netherlands, Bangladesh’s fifth in six games, Shakib looked and sounded upbeat on Monday. “My voice has changed? Different?,” he interjected once. Even in trying circumstances it is important to be able to laugh, he said at another time in Bangla. Qualification to the 2025 Champions Trophy is now the target and it won’t harm Bangladesh if some of Shakib’s positive vibes runs off on the rest.
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