In the first match of the ICC Champions Trophy at National Stadium Karachi, Team Pakistan, under the leadership of wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, faced a 60-run defeat with 16 balls to spare.
After the loss, the performance of Pakistan has been harshly criticised. There was already a sense of fear and uncertainty regarding this match, especially since Pakistan had suffered two consecutive defeats to New Zealand just a week prior.
Honestly, there was no belief in the Green Shirts’ chances of winning against the Kiwis, as the guest team was considered a professional side with a combination of top players. Their prospects in the tournament seemed brighter compared to Pakistan’s.
In this context, just a day before the match, Captain Mohammad Rizwan earnestly requested the public and fans to pray for the team’s good performance.
In the opening match at National Stadium, the first piece of good news for the Green Shirts was that Haris Rauf was playing. On the challenging pitch for batting, Rizwan won the toss and chose to field, a decision that was not wrong at all.
In the first 10 overs, the guest team scored only 48 runs, with 28 dot balls played, and they also lost the wickets of Devon Conway and Kane Williamson.
In the 17th over, when New Zealand’s score was 73, Haris dismissed Daryl Mitchell, and Pakistan seemed to be gaining control over the game. However, it was at this point that 32-year-old right-handed batter Will Young and the experienced Tom Latham came to the crease, laying the first foundation to take the Green Shirts out of the match.
The pair shared a 118-run partnership for the fourth wicket, making things difficult for Pakistan. By the 40th over, New Zealand had scored 207 runs for 4 wickets.
On television, experts predicted that the Kiwis would end up with 275 runs, which wasn’t an unrealistic estimation. Rizwan had Haris, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Abrar Ahmed and Naseem Shah left to bowl the final 10 overs, but on the other hand, 28-year-old Glenn Phillips had entered the field.
The right-handed batter, born in South Africa, took apart Pakistan’s famed bowlers in the final overs. The fast bowlers helplessly watched their balls being sent to the boundary, while mystery spinner Abrar seemed to have forgotten how to bowl to left-handed batter Tom Latham.
The 32-year-old Latham scored his 8th century in One-Day International cricket, and in the final 5 overs, Pakistan’s bowlers conceded 65 runs.
New Zealand posted a total of 320/4 on the scoreboard. The blame for this largely lay with Pakistan’s renowned fast bowlers, who gave away 207 runs in 30 overs.
This was not the first time it had happened; this was the fourth instance in the last four One-Day matches where Pakistan’s strong bowling line-up had conceded over 300 runs.
Chasing a target of 321 runs, Pakistan seemed to have no real formula or plan for chasing the runs. The absence of Fakhar Zaman, who got injured while fielding, was a big blow for Pakistan. Saud Shakil, who came in to open with Babar Azam, played as if he was in a Test match, scoring just 6 runs off 19 balls with 15 dot balls. Captain Rizwan was dismissed after an extraordinary catch by Phillips, and Zaman entered the field.
He hit 4 boundaries, but his 30 dot balls in 41 balls showed that Pakistan’s day wasn’t going well. Babar, the focal point of Pakistan’s hopes, scored 64 runs off 90 balls but came under criticism due to his 52 dot balls.
Perhaps Babar would have been spared some criticism if Salman Ali Agha hadn’t scored 42 runs off 28 balls and Khushdil Shah hadn’t contributed 69 runs off 49 balls.
Pakistan played 161 dot balls in the match, which is particularly concerning when chasing a target of 321 runs.
The clear takeaway from the Green Shirts’ defeat is that the team management has no solution other than talking and offering excuses for their mistakes and shortcomings. Why are the bowlers consistently giving away runs? The response is that they are working on it and trying to improve.
There is a debate over whether Babar should be playing as an opener, but when will the senior batsmen take responsibility? When will they finish the match on their own and lift the team? Team management says it should happen, but why is it not happening? When things continue this way, the results will also remain the same.
