Pakistan post 136 batting first, as the batsmen fail to capitalise on their starts. It could’ve been worse had a lower order batsmen not batted till the end with an unbeaten thirty odd. Chasing a modest total, Zimbabwe are restricted to 120 odd thanks to impressive bowling displays from Imad Wasim and Sohail Tanvir. Zimbabwean skipper Elton Chigumbura threatens to take the match away at the end, but Pakistan bowl well at the death to seal the match. It was an unconvincing, nay, mediocre batting performance, but the bowlers dug the team out of the hole.
By playing out the two absolutely identical T20Is against Zimbabwe, the traditionally ‘unpredictable’ Pakistani side has a newfound predictability: batting mediocrity. That it comes after an impressive T20 displays in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, should ring some form of alarm bells, especially with months to go to the T20 World Cup.
No matter how good we bowl, the odds would be stacked against us if we’re defending 130 odd against the likes of India, South Africa, Australia or New Zealand on Indian tracks.
Shahid Afridi
Batting mediocrity is a major hurdle for Pakistan ahead of next year's T20 World Cup
As is quite often the case with Pakistan, both the matches were a case of two halves. The batting continued to be hit and miss – more miss than hit – while the bowling was exceptional. Ahmed Shehzad failed twice; Mukhtar Ahmed failed to shrug off question marks over his calibre outside of Pakistan; Mohammed Hafeez, in his solitary game, couldn’t quite build the case for his inclusion following the bowling ban and Sohaib Maqsood didn’t quite have a fruitful time out there either despite the 26 he scored in the second T20. Shahid Afridi scored 2 in both innings.
Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Rizwan and Umar Akmal scored a 30 each in the two matches to salvage some sort of respectability to the totals. In addition to his match-winning bowling exploits, Imad Wasim managed to contribute a couple of handy knocks with the bat lower down the order as well.
As is evident, the Pakistani batsmen failed to stay on the pitch long enough to post a challenging total. Furthermore, none of the top 3 managed to post a strike rate of more than 104 in both matches combined.
Imad Wasim
Imad Wasim was phenomenal, opening the attack with his left-arm spin. He seems to be the latest among the recent Pakistani spinners to open the bowling in the shortest format, taking over from Hafeez. His match-winning 4/11 in the first T20 and 1/14 (bowling first change) in the second T20, earned him the Man of the Series award. If he continues to bowl as accurately, he’ll be very handy in Indian conditions. Furthermore, his batting contributions lower down the order make Imad a valuable all-rounder in T20s and maybe eventually in ODIs as well.
It was great to see the fit again Wahab Riaz and Mohammed Irfan play a match each, while returning to match sharpness. Both bowled with rhythm and didn’t concede too many runs, to ensure Pakistan’s triumph in each match. Meanwhile, Sohail Tanvir continues to cement himself as an indispensible member of the T20 starting 11, with his impressive bowling displays. His potential as a slogger at the death further enhances his importance. Young Imran Khan, who was trusted with bowling the final over of both the matches, also made his mark and added to the long list of up and coming young fast bowlers that Pakistan is producing.
But while Pakistan churns out bowlers in hordes, the over decade long batting woes seem to continue. While on paper a line-up featuring Ahmed Shehzad, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi looks great, there’s a blatant lack of consistency in those names. Malik has finally returned to something resembling his best form, but one can’t expect any other batsman in the Pakistani line-up to perform regularly in a series, let alone a tournament as big as the World Cup. This further makes the decision to drop Sarfraz Ahmed even more bizarre.
Granted Rizwan is performing really well, but Sarfraz merits his place in the side even on batting alone. By what logic do Mohammed Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Mukhtar Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood and Umar Akmal get the batting spots ahead of him?
Pakistan will need to address these concerns in the next T20 series against England in UAE, as the national team embarks on the ODI series in Zimbabwe, which is already underway as you read this. Pakistan has a decent shot at glory in India next year. Only if the batsmen bring their A-game to the fore.
