Now, people can’t term this unfair criticism because this guy is a very fierce supporter of our team. Just thought I’d mention it before the love starts to pour in.
Anyways, as the author points out what’s missing in this team is pride. How can our world class batsmen go down to the mediocre at best England? If there was one thing that Miandad had, it was pride and the burning desire to win at all costs. No match was a dead rubber. No team was our brother. No team deserved to be disrespected because they didn’t have a stellar past record. All teams were to be taken seriously. Winning was the reason why you played. Ahh Miandad…
I remember that after the 99 final’s disaster, Aaqib came out and said very similar to what he said in this article. And that is that when he played in the 92 Cup, Imran and Miandad sheltered the juniors from the pressures of the world stage and their job was only to go out and perform on the field. Afridi on the other hand was talking about the team mood before the 99 final and he said that there was dead silence in the team bus when they were heading for the ground on the morning of the final. Everyone was nervous.
I understand all this talk of Miandad is not very constructive at this time but the issue has been a lack of leadership and it was brutally exposed 4 years ago and still remains to be addressed.
The author also made a very good point at the end of the article that the players have to perform regardless of the team selection and strategy. Inzi I remember came in to open in some 97 matches when he was hopelessly out of form. Today he’s hesitant to bat at no 3 instead of 4? Surely he didn’t fail because he came one down rather than two down. For next match, I think Inzi needs to come in and open the inning. He must lead by example or the team should pack their bags.
Pakistan require a Javed Miandad for reversal of fortunes
From Waheed Khan
CAPE TOWN: The completely lost look on Waqar Younis’ face said it all on Saturday night and it is now going to take a miracle for Pakistan to make a tournament of it and move into the Super Six stage of this World Cup.
The Pakistan skipper came to the post match press conference after Saturday night’s crushing defeat to England with a look which said that he was at a loss to understand where things were going wrong for his team. The sinister thing was that he wore the look of a boxer who had thrown in the towel much before the fight was over.
Although the usual excuses and optimistic words came from him even as he found it hard to maintain his composure in the packed room, the message was obvious; something radical is required to get this Pakistan team to lift itself from the floor and comeback in the tournament.
Because by their own doing, Pakistan have now made things very difficult for themselves and even if they recover to play well and win their remaining games against Holland, India and Zimbabwe, even the weather and one or two upset results in their pool could see them go out without moving beyond the preliminary rounds.
Mathematically, if they play well in their remaining games they still stand a very good chance of qualifying for the next stage and they are certainly not out of it, but for this to happen it is Waqar who has to play an inspirational role.
Before the team came to South Africa, there was a lot of criticism on the decision of the board to retain Waqar as captain for the World Cup given the confirmed stories about him having lost the confidence of some of his senior colleagues because of his attitude and the fact that many of them thought he was a liability for the team given his tendency to be expensive and not too brilliant a tactician.
In various pre-World Cup discussion programmes they were some critics who outrightly rejected the chances of Pakistan even qualifying for the Super Six stage. At one particular forum, the Board representative Rameez Raja was clearly upset with one such observation from a senior journalist.
But there were also the die hards including this correspondent who believed that the Pakistani players had the potential, pride and will to rise above petty differences and play man-to-man with pride for their country.
And to be practical there was no way the Board could have removed Waqar as captain given the limited choices available to them and given his past record.
One has been observing the players from close range and one has seen no visible signs of any cracks in the team. The players seem to be satisfied with their captain and are making efforts to stick together although after the defeat to England one might think there will be the usual behind-the- -back grumbling and some in the team would be more concerned about their future rather than the team itself.
On Saturday Waqar and the tour selection committee appeared to have got it right with the team balance but, unfortunately, no captain or coach can do anything when your best batsmen and bowlers are not performing. Shoaib going for 63 runs in nine overs was not the way the script should have gone and that too against England.
And to say that it is because of a weak captain that the players have not played to their potential would be grave injustice, because while Waqar might have still made some tactical errors on the field against Australia and England, the bottom line is that the batsmen have just struggled to get going including Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana and the others.
And this is largely because the batsmen lack the mental application and will to perform under pressure. Imran Khan and others like to talk about how Pakistan fought back in that 1992 World Cup but the bottom line is one doubts Pakistan would have made it to even the semifinals if Javed Miandad had not been there.
Yes, Imran also played some fine innings and set the tone by promoting himself up the order and producing some sensible knocks, but he had the luxury of knowing that he had someone of the calibre and fighting qualities of Javed Miandad to always rely on.
The truth is that today if Waqar had someone like Miandad in his team he would also be sailing on a different boat. Aaqib Javed who played a lot under Imran and alongside Javed Miandad and who is now a junior selector, said the other day that Pakistan today needed someone like Javed who had the capacity to put a heavy price on his wicket, rotate the strike, guide the other batsmen and raise their morale to take on the opposition head on.
Pakistan today does not have someone even half the calibre of Miandad who could bring off the improbable.
Inzamam, Saeed Anwar, Yousuf Youhana and Younis Khan are all batters of considerable experience and merit but even they have not made the same league as Miandad.
**Inzamam is a classic example. He is struggling for form and finding it difficult to put bat on ball. In a similar scenario Javed spent hours and hours in the nets doing a self analysis on where he was going wrong until he got it right.
This is not true of Inzamam who has a different approach altogether. He is incapable of working hard enough to come out of his bad patch and he has kept his chin down.**
Youhana is immensely talented and one of the most fluent batsman produced in recent years, but he just does not have the tough mental attitude to go with his talents. Younis remains the cavalier type and again he has failed to realize the importance of how to build an innings.
Saeed, unfortunately, has now nothing left to play for and although his selection was a sensible one he appears to have lost the spirit to inspire the others at the top of the order given his personal problems in recent years.
And as far as the others like Saleem Elahi, Taufiq Umar, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq are concerned, they lack the hunger to succeed and keep their minds occupied with other things.
Shoaib Akhtar remains an enigma. Fast and furious he has failed to translate his speed into wickets for Pakistan in this World Cup against Australia and England.
For the last two years, the Board has put up with all his nonsense in the hope that he would be the match-winner in the World Cup. Unfortunately, Shoaib still has to repay the debt he owes to Tauqir Zia and the country for resurrecting his career and giving him so much fame and wealth.
One would think that in such a bleak scenario Pakistan’s World Cup campaign should be over.
But one would not go with that because of the immense potential in this team and that the fact that there are no signs of any disunion within the team.
So what now remains is for every player to simply accept his responsibilities and realize he owes a lot to the people back home and Pakistan cricket.
There will never be a 100 per cent consensus on selection matters and the arguments and counter arguments will go on. The bottom line is, it really does not matter whether Pakistan asks Saleem Elahi and Taufiq to open the innings or Afridi and Saeed.
It does not matter whether Pakistan plays four specialist batsmen or five and five bowlers or six. In the end what is really required is for all the players to stand up and deliver.
link: Daily Jang: Urdu News - Latest Breaking News update Pakistan - jang.com.pk
the most touching moment ever 