Poor Englishmen were dreaming of being world champions after beating the invincible aussies but they failed miserably to achieve such status after horrible defeats against formidable Pakistanis. Yes, I am assuming that Pakistan will defeat England in the current test match and no, my prediction is not based on biasedness rather, the performance of the Pakistani team in last 15 test matches or so leads me to this conclusion.
It is refreshing to see Pakistani team targeting every match with a clinical approach. It is probably the first time you see a Pakistani team playing according to a plan targeting opponents’ weaknesses. Interestingly, the only other Pakistani teams that produced superb results on a regular basis were teams of the 50s and 80s. 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.
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 almost 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. Pakistan also had the services of Wasim Bari in that period, arguably, the best wicket-keeper Pakistan ever had. Despite the presence of such gifted players, Pakistani team never played to its true potential on a regular basis. 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 lead 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, salim malik, ijaz ahmad, asif mujtaba, salim yousaf, salim jaffar and yet, this team was able to beat England in England, India in India, WI in WI and Sri-Lanka in Sri-Lanka. 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 in Pakistani cricket from 1992 to 2003. Pakistani team had some outstanding superstars in this period e.g. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar, 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 is followed by the current period with consistent results. Again, the trend looks the same like 50s and 80s. No superstars, mediocre but extremely dedicated players and a consistent leadership.
In essence, if you want to compare the shear talent of this current team with Pakistani teams of 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, this much less-talented team carries 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. In addition, it is extremely important to have a consistent leadership for a longer period of time as is evidenced in the past. As I said earlier, there is no scientific basis for the observation I made but if the trend I described above prevails, lets celebrate because based on the past examples, it will continue till 2015!