Pak vs India - First Test Results (April '04)

We deserve what happened to Pakistan in the 1st Test vs India. It was a poor performance all over. Poor bowling, poor batting, poor fielding, poor captaincy, poor team selection and poor planning.

Inzamam's laziness and Miandad's carefee (read careless) attitude are affecting the team. The game has become a lot more professional in nature in the recent (6/7) years. I know "professional" is a over/mis-used word but it simply means paying attention to detail and giving everything what it deserves. We are definitely not doing that. Indians are. Aussies have been and even Sri Lankans have been doing it for quite some time. English tried it but either they have lack of talent or something is grossly wrong with them. They have improved too tho.

Bad pitch? Get outta here. What does a pitch have to do with catching the ball? Again lack of concentration, will-power and mental attitude - in other workds professionalism.

It is not about losing one match. It is a way of things for Pakistan. And mind you we are not getting anywhere with this (if you think this is how we are and this is the way we are supposed to be). There has to be something right the SA and Aus and Indians have been doing recently that they are such a big success and something wrong with us that we are so unpredictable despite having such an awsome talent pool. At the very least we have a better team than Sri Lanka and NZ and WI but we have lost series in the past at their hands. I believe we have more talent than SA but the records dont indicate that. We failed to save the home series on the last SA tour when we failed to score 175 odd in the second innings. And we failed to save the rain-shortened 4 day test match when we went to SA later. These were two series that we should have won. Also numerous other games like the last WI series. The Aus series in Aus. This all shows lack of concentration, unprofessionalism and inconsistency. I think we are mentally a very weak team and the management does not help this at all.

OK you think all this talk is in the air without any base? Well lets get things straight. Lets pick up the very core issue of team selection. What is AbdulRazzaq's role in the test team? A batsman? Well sorry to say we have a better batsman in Misbah ul Haque than him. A bowler? I dont need to say much about this do I. Oh ok... An Allrounder? Well what good is an all-rounder when he fails to contribute meaningfully with the ball and his batting is also well limited. I mean the over he bowls in the middle do not accomplish anything except provide net practice to the batsmen, release the pressure (if any) and waste some time. Test match is about persistence. Persistent pressure and concentration. All 5 days. A loose session here and the match can change on its head. We are doing to our test team with AbdulRazzaq what we did to our One Day team thru Shahid Afridi. The middle order lost confidence because they did not know what stage of the match they have to bat. The team lost rhythm because the could not find a consistent pattern/strategy to work on and overall it was all mayhem... just like an Afridi innings. Lets take up the batting order issue. I find it very strange to have three very inexperienced batsman at the top order. I think there should be one senior player to provide the support and stability the top order needs. Looking at the score card seems so odd seeing the kids at the top.

The team spirit that used to be there is nowhere to be seen. Every player plays as an individual. We no more play as team that we used to in the days of Javed Mianadad and others e.g the 1992 World Cup. I guess this has change due the phases the team has gone through i.e match-fixing scandals, in-fighting among seniors, character assaults by those sitting out, throwing allegations, media hype, inconsistent/absence of good leadership, inspiration etc. While the Indians and Aussies play all for the team. Just look ar Dravid and Tendulkar shirk remarks about their personal achievements and alude to team effort. Of course the youngsters learn from them.

What hurts me deep inside is that we are not that bad a team at all as the results show. We have a lot of talent - more than most of the teams in world cricket. But we are unable to streamline and polish this into an ivincible, professional and consistent outfit. Only if we had more purpose to our cricket mission. More conviction and belief in ourselves. A more serious, thorough and professional approach to things - basic things really.

I dont see how the team is going to get up from this low deep. But miracles happen. Cricket history is full of them.