Is Pakistan cricket in crisis?

Well it looks as though the Pakistan cricket is in crisis when the news broke out that the retired Pakistan batsman Mohammed Yousuf has been called back into the Pakistani 16 member squad for the upcoming one day series against England in England. Of course, since the past two years or so, nothing has been able to be told regarding Pakistan cricket. In the beginning, it was only a problem for Pakistan cricket team in Pakistan. But, now, the Pakistan team is facing unbearable defeats outside as well, with the most recent one being the loss in the 1^st and 2^nd tests against England.

Not only did Pakistan lose both the aforementioned tests but also they were bowled out for a score less than 100 in both the tests. They have to consider themselves lucky for not getting all out for a score less than 100 in all the four innings they played. Nevermind that they did well to bowl out the Aussies unexpectedly for a score of 88 in the first innings of the 2^nd test last month. In early 2009, almost all cricketing nations started boycotting their tours of Pakistan for reasons not necessary to be cited specially. And, the only team that toured Pakistan had to pay the price for the same.

And then, Pakistan did which no other team in the world could do when they spent more than a year without playing a test match. This was also the year which Pakistan spent without hosting a test match on its home soil which is evident. Not even Bangladesh were able to achieve such a feat and Pakistan must be proud to have entered the record books for the wrong reasons. With teams viz Australia, New Zealand,England and South Africa along with India (obviously) dropping plans to tour Pakistan, one had to wonder as to what made Sri Lanka tour the nation. Were the Sri Lankans trying to justify that they are lions indeed as their flag suggests!

Off late, their performance is also found following the security situation back home. They were the first team to lose all matches to any team when they lost three tests, five one dayers and the lone T20 game that was played late last year. West Indies - who toured Australia at the same time were successful in drawing a match. Following this, the PCB took a drastic step by dropping eight players from the side and later on dropped the idea itself which is a different issue. Now, the worst of all is that Mohammed Yousuf is called back to the one dayers that follow against England.

The PCB never called back Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar or Waqar Younis once they retired. But, the case with Yousuf is a different one and shows the insecurity in Pakistan cricket as well similar to the one in Pakistan.

Sensational victory for England

One would have hardly expected England to win against Pakistan at Bridgetown yesterday when they couldn't win even a single encounter in the league stages of the tournament. Whatever, there is no reason why England should not win against any team. But, looking at the way they played against Ireland, speaks of their caliber to take on Pakistan. Of course, one should not forget they way bad fortune stuck them in the match against West Indies when they scored 191 and still lost with rain interfering and forcing the second innings to just 5 overs. Had the match progressed, England would have definitely won.

However, in the match against Ireland, England could manage only 120 on the board which cannot be a winning total even in today's one dayers. In yesterday's game, Pakistani batsmen are themselves to blame for having put a low total with most of them scoring more or less the same number of runs. Batsmen who comparatively stood apart were Salman Butt and Umar Akmal who scored in thirties. But, that could have been a score only in cases where rain interrupts and a D-L method gets enforced and the match gets reduced to five overs. A strike rate of less than 150 by top batsmen is useless in T20 cricket.

It is confusing to read the mindset of the Pakistani batsmen who took such a different approach. Otherwise, the Pakistani batsmen are known for their blind slogging needless to be said. That was the main reason why the Pakistani batsmen got flattered here yesterday. There were four bowlers from England who bowled their complete quota while Paul Collingwood unnecessarily got one over which went for ten runs.With a total of just 147 on the board, there was nothing much that the Pakistani bowlers could do. There was not even a single bowler who stood apart and tried to control the flow of runs.

Keeping in mind England's problem against spin bowling, Saeed Ajmal had a say when he scalped 2 wickets and gave away runs at a rate of just over 5.00 runs an over and was given to bowl 4 overs which made him the most economical bowler of the lot. So was the case with Shahid Afridi who got the wicket of Collingwood. There didn't seem to be any pressure on the English batsmen though they took the game until the last over to secure a win. Mistake lied in allowing Mohammad Asif to bowl 4 overs despite going in for 10.00 runs an over.