This piece is being written before Thursday’s second T20 match in Auckland, and so at the time of writing Pakistan are 0-6 in the tour, with the first game of the ongoing three-match series replicating the first that the visitors have put forth on their tour to New Zealand.
There were concerns before Pakistan embarked on the tour – which were further reestablished by the ODI whitewash – that the batting has completely gone pear-shaped. The batsmen, who practically came out looking good once in the Champions Trophy winning run and weren’t exactly tested for the rest of the year, have reinforced the concerns regarding their standing in the modern game.
Colin Munro
Even so, while Pakistan lagging behind in the ODIs – especially on the batting front – has been a fact in recent years, the struggles in T20s are more worrying. After all, Pakistan entered 2018 as the top ranked T20 side in the world, and in 20-over cricket the batting can be a match for any side, given that the batsmen don’t have to keep the high tempo going for a longer time.
And yet Pakistan, for large parts, matched their worst ever batting display on the tour in the first T20. One can’t say what they would’ve pulled off on Thursday by the time you read this, but the signs at Wellington were ominous.
Pakistan have it all to do on Sunday, as they look to salvage something from the New Zealand tour
Only two Pakistani batsmen scored in double figures in the first T20: Babar Azam, who scored a run-a-ball 41 and Hasan Ali who scored 23 off 12 balls.
Babar, who failed to score a cumulative 50 runs in five innings in the ODIs, managed to play almost 40 balls without a boundary – scoring a four and a six at the very end. Of course one can’t fault Babar Azam for playing the way he did with everyone falling all around him. But it would’ve been interesting to see how he would’ve approached the batting had Pakistan, hypothetically, been chasing 8 or 9 runs per over.
Sarfraz’s struggles with the bat compounded as he fell, literally, for another low score. It is not quite understandable why he continues to fix himself at the number six slot, where he perhaps is the least suited. It is no wonder that the only times he does manage to score is when Pakistan lose those before him quickly, and not when there is a need to go big.
Rumman Raees dismisses Glenn Phillips
While Fakhar Zaman will be a permanent fixture in ODIs and T20s in the foreseeable future, Umar Amin and Haris Sohail had the opportunity to cement themselves. Haris has been consistent in the two longer formats, but would need to do a lot more to cement a place in the T20s.
Faheem Ashraf has been talked up – in this space as well – but is yet to come up with that innings that would firmly put him up as the all-rounder that everyone can see in him.
The bowling, considering they were defending 105, managed to create some pressure on New Zealand. At 8-2 in the fourth over – the first time on the tour that Pakistan managed to take two early wickets – and even 57-3 in the 11th over, Pakistan were in the game. But then Colin Munro and Ross Taylor took the game away from the visitors.
Rumman Raees continues to be among the wickets, but Mohammed Amir’s lack thereof is worrying. Even Hasan Ali’s struggles with the ball are both surprising and worrying considering that he was Pakistan’s player of 2017 and has been crowned ICC’s Emerging Player of the Year.
Whatever the result on Thursday, Pakistan will have it all to do on Monday. At 1-1 they can salvage the tour by winning the series. At 2-0 they desperately need that elusive win to take a consolation back home, and have some form of competitiveness to show.
