Is this Pakistan team worthy of rivalry vs India?
India love to hate Pakistan. Jingoistic it may sound, but the fact is whenever the neighbours come face to face – be it on the cricket field or on a dais at the International Court of Justice – the persistent undertone is that of gaining one-upmanship.
But after Sunday’s ICC Champions Trophy match, people are bound to ask: Is this Pakistan cricket team even worthy of India’s hate? Or will it be pity from now on?
It is the presence of characters that spices up a rivalry. This current Pakistan team is devoid of that like never before. It is not as if the realisation came as a sudden development but the way Pakistan’s fight, or the lack of it, panned out at the Edgbaston Cricket Ground on Sunday, it made for poor viewing.
NO RESILIENCE
The days of the talismanic Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis are gone and cricket fans have made peace with it long ago. What, however, is shocking was that none of the Pakistan cricketers showed the resilience of now retired Younis Khan or Misbahul-Haq.
The two were not mavericks that Pakistan once produced but then they always had the gumption to fight. When the duo was on field there was no question of going out lying down.
The ICC Champions Trophy 2017, however, saw a different Pakistan. Barring ardent cricket fans, it’s safe to say that some of the players are not even known by majority.
The likes of Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan, Imad Wasim are yet to get used to the rigours of international cricket but, at least going by the loss against India, they need to be chiselled more to do justice to the expectation that they carry.
TEAM IN TRANSITION
Agreed that the Pakistan team is going through a transition after retirements of several seniors, but the old trick of springing a surprise when least expected is slowly on the wane from the negnbour’s repertoire.
Even the entertainment quotient of Pakistan, that often bordered with uncertainty, is nowhere to be seen.
In such scenario, a worthy leader can be the game-changer. Sarfraz Ahmed gives the impression of a composed head but is he the one to shake things up is a question that will not have any straight answers.