While the test series against England was on, fans witnessed a belligerent Pakistan outfit, which was always aggressive and had the spirit of resilience. However, barely a few weeks later, all that zeal and fight from the side vanished once the ODI series commenced. That was evident when the Pakistanis were hammered 4-1 in the five-match series.
According to test skipper Misbah Ul Haq, the issue with Pakistan’s ODI woes can be related back to the grassroots level in the domestic structure in Pakistan. With the lack of international cricket stagnating the growth of cricket in the nation, Misbah feels that it’s time to emphasize more towards the domestic structure. The veteran batsman in an interaction with ESPN Cricinfo, highlighted that just one 50 over tournament was not big enough to improve Pakistan’s ODI performance.
“While a Pakistani domestic cricketer may play at least ten to twenty first-class matches a season, he doesn’t get the same match practice in the 50-over format,” Misbah said. “I have long been saying that we need to lay greater emphasis on one-day cricket in our domestic system, and play more one-day games, because you can’t evolve by playing a maximum of five 50-over matches a year in the domestic circuit.”
“We have just one fifty-over tournament and the format is not even played at club level anymore,” he added. “Most of the cricket at the grassroots level is 20 to 25 overs; this is one big reason that our ODI cricket has deteriorated and we are standing at No. 9. We needed and still need to develop our resources and we can only do so by increasing the number of games in our domestic tournament. The reason we are on top in Tests is because our players are getting enough games and exposure at domestic level. That is the only reason I see.”
Signifying the need to play with the best side, Misbah said that the best players must be chosen for ODI’s. “When the team doesn’t perform and keeps losing, then changes are necessary,” Misbah mentioned. “But when you start winning then you can back the talent and just go into the future with that. But that wasn’t really the case for Pakistan. We tried a lot of players in a bid to find a good combination, but it didn’t give results and players were dropped because they never gave us a chance to retain them.”
“Nobody wants to carry on with failure and if a player is stuck with his weakness and not improving, regardless of his potential, you have to drop him and move on. This not only good for the team, but also for the player because you can’t allow him to play with consistent failure – it is really unfair as it can cost him his career, so you have to think tactically as well,” he signed off.