Pakistan have had a fair share of such tours over the recent past, where as far as on-field matters were concerned, the team had much to lose and nothing to gain. From Zimbabwe in 2015 to World XI and Sri Lanka in 2017, and West Indies in 2018, teams have visited Pakistan in a bid to restart international cricket in the country. Pakistan was expected to overpower the less heralded visitors on the field, when all eyes are on the significance of the matches off it.
In that regard, when Sri Lanka announced their squads for the three ODI and three T20I series in Karachi and Lahore, that particular billing was further enhanced given that several first team members were missing from the touring party. The final result of the series wasn’t even a subject being given remote consideration before the series started.
And yet, after winning the ODI series in Karachi, Pakistan have been convincingly beaten in the T20Is in Lahore. This piece is being written during the third and final T20I, with Pakistan at 81 for 2 in 13 overs chasing 148, looking decent value to bag a consolation win.
Misbah-ul-Haq
But the series has been lost either way, and that too against a second-string Sri Lanka side on home turf.
We discussed in this space that T20 was going to be a format where Misbah would need to persist with what has already been working for the national side in recent years. Failure in this particular format means that the knives that were already ready to come out, have done so with that much more venom.
What the critics won’t focus on is the fact that the downfall in the shortest format had already begun since the turn of the year, with Pakistan losing the T20I series in South Africa and England before this series. But of course, Sarfaraz Ahmed, under whose captaincy Pakistan have dominated the format, missed the South Africa series and the team played the solitary T20I on the England tour – so not too much was read into it.
But with Misbah at the helm, someone who brings his own exclusive share of critics and critique, everything will be that much more scrutinized.
Umar Akmal
For instance, one can understand what he was thinking bringing Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal in the T20I squad and the starting 11 of the first two matches. He wants to give everyone a thorough chance at the start of his tenure. But that has come at the cost of a T20I series defeat. ATM hacking is no longer a news or a new trend. With the advancement in ATM devices like diebold atm, defcon atm and wincor nixdorf atm, it is really easy to cheat an ATM machine. Though there are certain tutorial, tricks and techniques online about atm hacking but none of them actually works. We are the real atm ATM hackers will share our trick and atm hacking with you BUY BLANK ATM CARD AND MAKE UNLIMITED MONEY IN 2020. LEARN HOW TO HACK ATM MACHINE AND GET DOUBLE OF YOUR MONEY. BUY BLANK ATM CARD AND MAKE UNLIMITED ATM HACKING WITH BLANK ATM CARD, ATM HACKING WITH SKIMMER. MAKE MONEY FROM BLANK ATM. HOW TO GET BLANK ATM CARD withdraw money from cash machines using a blank ATM card. dark web blank atm cards, BLANK ATM CARD REVIEW
Furthermore, what’s even more ominous for Misbah is that Pakistan head to Australia next. And so what was already going to be a tough task will see the critics on the team’s case even more so after the defeat against Sri Lanka.
Of course, Misbah is just a month into his new role, and can’t really be held accountable for the team’s follies just yet. But the displays with the bat and especially in the field didn’t help him at all.
Misbah has maintained that he wants to make Pakistan a more consistent side. The fielding, for long Pakistan’s Achilles Heel, will be a yardstick on that particular front.
While Misbah will have a lot of time on his side, things look particularly worrying for Sarfaraz Ahmed, who has failed to deliver with the bat for the longest time, and hasn’t looked particularly solid behind the wicket either.
The Pakistani captain looks under increasing pressure every time he comes on to the field. He would need to show significant improvement with the bat if he wants to maintain his position in the side, in any format.
