Pakistan At The Twenty20 World Cup: Adding Method To Madness

There’s something about this Pakistan team and its recent string of performances in this spectacle of the ICC Twenty 20 World Cup that has really struck me. It's not so much that they’ve not really lost any matches so far (and let's be fair, you can hardly term the farce of the “bowl out” against India as a loss) but how they’ve actually played that’s impressed me.

Pakistan Cricket, never really short of activity as such, had been at its eccentric best in the lead up to this tournament. The ICC World Test Player of the Year, Mohammad Yousuf, was apparently dropped. While selectors maintained he was merely “rested” he and another absentee in Abdul Razzaq both signed up for the break away Indian Cricket League, apparently in retaliation to being dropped. There’s been some criticism of the players for this, for how they’ve supposedly fallen for lure of money in place of the honor of representing one’s country, but I’d be inclined to lay the blame flatly on Salu Bhai, Pakistan’s chief selector as he’s affectionately called. I don’t know what the ICL holds for the game for sure, but if it can end some of monopoly Asian boards have over the sport, and bring in some much need transparency and accountability, it can’t as bad as I’ve been hearing from some quarters.

Back to Pakistan’s lead up, and if all that controversy over selection issues wasn’t enough on its own, Shoaib Akhtar decided on the eve of the tournament to dish up a little fight with Mohammad Asif, later sighting the no-less mercurial Afridi as the reason for the instigation. Asif and Afridi later both denied these claims and Akhtar was promptly send back home. Add in a new captain (Shoaib Malik) and an equally new coach (Geoff Lawson) into the mix and there you go: the typical feel of uncertainty that has become a norm with Pakistani sides of recent years, once again resurfaced. It’s almost as if some one up there has already predestined these things; if ifs not chaotic, it can’t be Pakistan.

But what was has been slightly different this time, is that once things have got out on the field, that chaos has evaded us. Well, part of it at least. The other part, as per Pakistani tradition, always sticks around, almost like they are bad omens in life, so you can learn to appreciate the good ones more. The perfect example of this can be seen in Pakistan’s top order which is still as erratic as ever. Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez and Salmat Butt are all good fielders, and on the ground they add a really positive vibe to Pakistan’s fielding, which too has been uncharacteristically deft in this tournament, especially today, against the world champs Australia.

But once they go out to bat, common sense ceases to exist. After two or three perfectly sensible shots, they’ll either feed a half volley down some fielder’s throat or take a big swing without moving their feet at all and pay the price. If you could make a collective video out of the manner in which the three of them have been dismissed in their international careers (and it's not been a short time let me tell you), it will be almost like watching several hundred actions replays of two or three types of really horrendous shots.

But fortunately for Pakistani fans, in contrast to their capricious performances, we’ve been treated to some really calm, intelligent and clinical batting from the middle order. People like Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik, now raised to a greater degree of responsibility in the absence of the old guard of Inzi and Yousuf, were expected to do deliver, but the real bonus has been Misbah ul Haq. He might have choked a bit under pressure against India, where he failed to tick off that crucial single of the last two balls, but that’s probably the only wrong foot he’s set in the tournament. Coming into this event in place of a man like Mohammad Yousuf, who had been test cricket’s leading run scorer the previous season, his response has been to become the leading run scorer of this tournament.

If Mohammad Yousuf doesn’t return to the fold back from the ICL, people might still remain miffed at Salu Bhai and co. But Misbah has already won back the “hearts and minds” of Pakistani fans. His last six off Nathan Bracken in the penultimate over of Pakistan’s innings today went as far back as a good 114 meters and some crisp English sentences churned at the presentation later on, and he’s already become a favorite at my household’s fair weather feather supporters’ group, too. And they're not one group pleased easily, so that’s quite an achievement from Misbah, I assure you. Even his hair style, I gather, has gained silent approval.

In the bowling too, an unexpected name has been a hero. Sohail Tanvir who is from the same town as the Rawalpindi Express whom he replaced in Pakistan’s squad took the crucial wickets of Gilchrist, Hayden and Hussey today and each time just when Australia seemed to have gathered some momentum. Yet oddly he’s more known as batting all-rounder in domestic cricket back home then he is as a frontline bowler. He did have some recent success with the ball for Pakistan A and Academy sides, but his best performances by far have been with the bat (a 97 not out in only his 2nd innings in first class cricket, and another undefeated century in the Pentangular Cup last year). As a matter of fact, he hadn’t taken any wickets at all at the Pakistani domestic level in the Twenty 20 format. His selection like that of Misbah if not specifically raised eyebrows, was certainly not wholly anticipated, but their results have pleased everyone alike.

The only thing that remains to be seen now is that if this consistency that Pakistan seem to have acquired is really consistency at all or just a spell of hot before another impending spell of cold. In the meantime, Pakistani fans should just cherish however much they can. No harm being superstitious either. Pakistanis back home are observing Ramadan these days, a Muslim holy month filled with bounties and glad tidings. At our dinner table today, we were all recalling how the 1992 World Cup also coincided with Ramadan too. And 20 Twenty may not be the most serious form of cricket ever, but this is still, officially at least, a World Cup. May be Ramadan can spill its magic again...