By Raza Ruman
Babar Azam seems got to go after terrible back to back performances.
His decision-making skills have long been questioned.
Dawn also raised many questions saying these are now desperate times for Pakistan at the World Cup. The ship is sinking, along with the hopes of the cricket-crazy nation. Pakistan had never lost a One-Day International to Afghanistan. But now they have, that too at cricket’s showpiece event, with their opponents enjoying an eight-wicket victory in Chennai. There are doubts that matters will get better. Babar pinned his hopes on cricket’s unpredictable nature for a turnaround. But the problem is that the current team has become very predictable. Pakistan have seen three consecutive defeats — the match against Afghanistan will hurt the most. At the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, they were in cruise control mode, toying with Pakistan’s much-vaunted bowling attack at will and meeting a 283-run target with no discomfort. Pakistan’s spinners again proved ineffective. In the last three games, Pakistan have picked up just one wicket from spin.
The paper says the pacers aren’t faring any better, being whacked across the field by the Afghan batters and are showing little fight to counter the onslaught.
But the biggest question revolves around Babar’s captaincy. It is argued that he isn’t aggressive with his field placings to help his bowlers get the needed breakthroughs. There has been some conservatism in his captaincy at a time when other teams have become adventurous. Concerns have also been raised over the current team management and it is being asked why it has been unable to prevent bad performances. Critics say that in the match against Afghanistan, Pakistan settled for a total of around 280 on a wicket where the par-score was over 300. How Pakistan emerge from this — and quickly, with South Africa up next on Friday — remains to be seen but they are in familiar territory. Not only must they win all their remaining matches, they also need other results to go their way if they are to make it to the semis.
Babar and company need to pack up as it seems the game is over. PAK DESTINY
