One year can be a long time. Pakistan’s 180 runs victory against India in the final of the Champions Trophy looked a stuff of fantasy in the light of the mauling at the hands of the same team in Dubai’s sports city on Wednesday. Never before had Pakistan let India chase a target with so many, 126, balls to spare in a one day international.
Many experts from either side of the border had labelled Pakistan as favourites before the match but their performance turned out to be even worse than Hong Kong, an Associate team that scored more runs without losing a wicket (174) than Pakistan’s all ten wickets combined (162) only a night before against India.
There were signs of complacency in Pakistan’s batting approach. It seemed as if mentally they were still at the Oval thinking another 300 plus was on the cards or batting against the second-string team of Zimbabwe against who they scored 5 centuries and a double-century in five ODIs two months ago.
The slow nature of the Dubai square demanded patience and India with the world’s best bowlers in their ranks some respect but Pakistan batsmen played contrary to the conditions, took unnecessary risks and found it difficult to channel their inner Afridi. Two of the top five batsmen, Imam-ul-Haq and Sarfraz Ahmed, threw away wickets ignoring their role to build the innings. Shadab Khan and Faheem Ashraf got out looking for big shots without paying heed to the number of overs remaining.
Luckily for Pakistan, the game will have no bearing going into the super-four stage of the tournament. The group match between India and Pakistan was technically a dead-rubber as points earned in the group stage are not carried to the next round.
Pakistan’s next game against India on Sunday will be the real deal and will have no margin of error. But before that Pakistan have another uphill task, a game against Afghanistan on Friday.
“Hard work and the real work will start from now because whatever we do will have repercussions. A win will benefit and a loss will cost us. The mood is positive and we are looking to play the Asia Cup final with whoever comes up.”
A four-team group can throw some tricky scenarios. Pakistan might qualify for the final by winning only one game and might not do it by winning two, therefore, each of three games in the super-four stage could effectively be a must-win match.
Afghanistan, the side on the rise and with the world’s number one spinner Rashid Khan in their camp, cannot be taken lightly.
That game was in 2014 and Afghanistan at that time had not even played a World Cup. Today, they are a Test playing nation and have won seven out of last 8 ODIs, including two against Windies and one against Sri Lanka. So, if Pakistan had any complacency coming into the tournament it needs to be avoided.