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Pakistan hitting
the road in the right fashion |
A Feature by Syed Ahsan Ali
on May 23, 2007
 Pakistan
win over Sri Lankans gave answers of long
seeking queries in Pakistan and in international
circuits. Will senior players like Afridi,
Yousuf and Razzaq contribute as they should do?
What would be Malik’s ways to mend the most
mercurial and volatile Pakistani players? Will
it be easy for a young skipper like Malik to
sustain the pressure of this huge job and still
make him valuable enough for the team? All these
and lot more like these questions raised their
heads in the minds of public before the
Pakistani team got in their and stuck it out
against under-par and fatigued Lankans.
It can be termed as a victory against a team
which was not as eager to come out again in the
limelight after two and half months of
excruciating cricket itinerary. It was against
the side which was lacking three of its more
reliable and talented cricketers. But in spite
of all of that, Pakistan can take a lot of heart
out of this win due to number of valid reasons.
They got this win not by taking full advantage
of their opponents’ unwillingness to hit their
engines at full tilt, but through proper
planning, confidence and unity in the side.
Planning was glimpsed by acts on the fields. It
was the facet that was lacked by Pakistan at the
time of Inzamam’s captaincy. Malik had the plan
that was followed by his boys to squeeze a fight
out of the competition which turned out as sheer
gold in the end. He used his bowlers
intelligently, batsmen avoided across the line
hits especially Nazir and Afridi and fielding
was better than usual standards and after
grabbing two wins in a row gave chance to
youngsters to prove their mettle. These are the
things which showed that they are really serious
in building a team which can sustain itself
under all conditions.
Another core issue was how Malik would handle
his relationship with his players specifically
the senior lot. But to the amazement of all, he
preferred the policy of consultation rather than
isolation. He involved his young as well as
senior players for their inputs and then decided
what he thought was feasible. Afridi and Asif
seemed to be the part of his think-tank which
would like to exchange its views before reaching
an agreement. It was good to watch that modesty
from a youngster who said it umpteenth times
that he has been going through a learning curve
in which he needs advice from every corner.
Afridi thrashed all whisperings of his
disinterest in playing under Malik’s captaincy
through his major contribution in both matches.
These were the few questions that reared by
controversies in the minds of Pakistani cricket
fans but now it seems that they hit the road
again in the right fashion.
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