While Some1 & team is busy doing “disco’ and celebrating India’s performance, I thought it may be a good idea for an introspective analysis (please note that I am boycotting the current series based on situation in Pakistan and trying to write on national issues in my spare time instead but Pakistani cricket is a national issue too. Some of the material for this post was taken from one of my previous posts).
Though this current Pakistani team has embarrassed us a lot, the historical pattern (I have explained the historic pattern below) of Pakistani cricket actually suggests that this team should produce superb results on a regular basis. Why? Well, because this team is composed of mediocre and average players. Confused? Me too but that is what our cricketing history suggests. Just like the current Pakistani team, the Pakistani teams of the 50s and 80s, with an exception of few extremely talented payers, were composed of mediocre but dedicated players led by some exemplary leaders and they produced phenomenal results.
That leads me to make an interesting observation. Though there is no significance to this observation, it is hard to ignore the presence of a cyclic element in the performance of the Pakistani team throughout its history. It appears to me that the Pakistani team performs, good or bad, in a 15-year cycle, give or take 2 or 3 years.
The first cycle that extended from 1951 to 1965 saw the Pakistani team performing great on a regular basis. The team primarily consisted of some mediocre but very dedicated players e.g. Khan Mohammad, Imtiaz Ahmad, Nazar Muhammad, Mahmood Hussain etc. The only superstars in that period were Fazal Mahmood and Hanif Muhammad. Yet, this Pakistani team beat Australia, WI, England and India within few years of gaining ICC status. However, the point to be noted is that the team was led by, arguably, the best Pakistani tactician of all time, Abdul Hafiz Kardar.
This golden period was followed by a gloomy period from 1965 to 1980 though Pakistani team had some outstanding superstars in that period. 1964 saw the emergence of Majid khan and Asif Iqbal followed by the appearance of the new batting sensation, Zaheer Abass, in 1969 and a bowling sensation, Imran Khan, in 1971. 1975 saw emergence of Pakistan’s best batsman ever, Javed Miandad. Pakistan also had the services of Wasim Bari in that period, arguably, the best wicket-keeper Pakistan ever had. Not to mention that the reverse swing guru Sarfraz Nawaz was at his peak too. Despite the presence of such gifted players, Pakistani team never never won a single series outside Pakistan. The worst point of this period was when this team at its full strength lost to India in India by 2-0. The point to be noted is that throughout 1965 to 1980, Pakistani team was devoid of a solid leadership with a brief period of Mushtaq Muhammad the only exception. Pakistani team had at least 8 international superstars in that period with all of them having led Pakistan at some point in their careers. Yet, this team was never able to beat England in England or India in India!
This gloomy period was followed by another golden period from 1980 to 1992. Again, the pattern was the same as observed in the 50s. The Pakistani team of the 80s consisted of mediocre but dedicated players like mudassar nazar, mansoor akhthar, ijaz ahmad, asif mujtaba, salim yousaf, salim jaffar and yet, this team was able to beat England in England, India in India, and Sri-Lanka in Sri-Lanka. Most importantly, they drew the series in WI – not to mention that WI was the cricket superpower then. The only real superstars in that period were Imran Khan and Javed Miandad. Again, just like the 50s, for majority of the 80s, the team was led by an exemplary leader Imran Khan. This team reached its peak when it won the 1992 World Cup.
This golden period was followed by one of the worst periods (I call it the dark period) in Pakistani cricket from 1992 to 2003. Pakistani team had services of one of the most outstanding superstars – probably the most talented in Pakistan’s history - in this period e.g. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar, Salim Malik, Inzimam, Moin Khan, Saqlain Mushtaq etc. Yet, this team produced one of the most unpredictable performances in Pakistani cricket history. On a given day, this team was able to beat Australia without any problem and then there were times when teams like Zimbabwe and Srilanka were able to beat it on its own soil without any problem. And if this was not enough, several match fixing scandals also popped up in the same period! Interestingly, this team never had a consistent leadership and just like the 70s, this team also had at least 8 international superstars in it with all of them having lead Pakistan at some point in their careers!
And this dark period was followed by the consistent period (2003 to 2006) when just like 50s and 80s we had average but extremely dedicated players who under Inzi’s consistent leadership played really well for almost four years. In essence, if you compare the shear talent of Pakistani teams of 50s, 80s and 03s with 70s and 90s, there is no comparison. Pakistani teams of 70s and 90s were full of superstars. But what those super-star laden teams lacked the most, much less-talented teams of 50s and 80s carried the most i.e. dedication and an immense desire to put their weight in one direction rather than applying their individual brilliance in separate directions.
All we need is a solid and energetic leader (may be younis khan) with semi-average but really dedicated players. Pakistani team will never perform when it is full of superstars. Shoaib Malik may need more time but to me he seems too soft and low-key. He can’t control players like Afridi and Shoaib Akhtahr. Paistanis tend to perform better under a father figure leader (imran, kardar, inzi) plus Malik is not an automatic selection based on his own performance.
