A dismal show by Pakistan’s batsmen at Harare, in the two Twenty20s and the first ODI, has been frustrating to say the least.
It is not surprising however.
From young pretenders to former Test cricketers, many have raised grave questions about our batsmen’s credentials and after a brief stint of success by at home and in the UAE, Pakistan’s fragile lineup presents a sorry sight in foreign conditions.
The ongoing tour of Zimbabwe has underscored the blemishes in the techniques of the Pakistani batsmen and have raised many eyebrows even as the side has won all the games so far.
The slow Harare wickets, which have turned this short week-long tour into a pretty arduous one for Pakistan’s top and middle-order, demand a specific art. 'Get to the pitch of the ball,' as the school coaches used to say.
The practice of charging down the wicket, to alter the length of the ball, has been widely employed by batsman when facing quality spin. When a batsman struggles against the turn, he resorts to change the length of the ball with the aim of killing the the spin off the delivery.
On a surface like Harare, where there is uneven bounce and the ball just doesn't arrive, top batsman counter the awkwardness of the delivery by using that simple technique.
Over the years, I have seen some batsmen with magnificent footwork.
Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, and Kumar Sangakkarra are few prime examples whose excellent technique made them flourish on tricky surfaces. The basic ingredient of their standout mode of operation was their long stride. They stepped out and met the ball and gradually made the bowlers much shorter.
It is not an unusual sight in cricket to see batsmen losing their balance in their attempts to negotiate the spin as they charge down the wicket.
Pakistan’s woes
The Pakistan batsmen have struggled in their attempts to counter spin or the medium-paced offerings by their hosts.
The first ODI saw Azhar Ali nicking the ball into the hands of the second slip as he danced down the wicket. Luckily, he was dropped, but his stay at the wicket was curtailed as a mix-up with Ahmed Shehzad resulted in him being run out anyway. Interestingly, the veteran Shoaib Malik has been dismissed twice in three innings, all while coming down the track and failing to read the trajectory of the ball.
Malik jumped out of his crease to clear the straight boundary. His strides, small followed by large, landed him nowhere near the pitch of the ball and John Nyumbu’s medium paced off-cutter crashed into the middle-stump.
Earlier on the tour, the former Pakistan captain was caught at the long-on region in his futile attempt to clear the rope. During the second T20, Sikandar Raza took an easy catch as Malik danced down to neutralise Graeme Cremer’s leg-spin with a wild heave.
Nonetheless, the Multan prodigy – Sohaib Maqsood – five deliveries later made Malik’s cheap dismissal look decent when he threw his wicket away. Maqsood danced down the wicket to play the ball over Prosper Utseya’s head and ended up getting caught at short-cover. His feet never aligned with the line of the ball and his footwork landed him far away from the ball. Subsequently, he edged the ball in the air.
The first T20 was no different. Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan’s hero of the first ODI, gave a thorough demonstration of how not to jump out of the crease. Off Sean William, he made a short stride which was followed by a longer one. Again I say, proper demonstration of what not to do.
Rizwan did not only fail to reach the pitch of the ball, but allowed the ball to reach the wicketkeeper untouched. To his luck Mutumbami fumbled and he got back to the crease in time. Had the wicketkeeper collected the ball, Pakistan may have been dismissed for much less.
The three games on the Zimbabwe tour have unveiled Pakistan’s flimsy footwork.
The Harare wicket is going to stay the same for the remaining two ODIs. The art of playing on uneven, slow wickets is one the Pakistani batsmen are fast becoming alien to.
Imad Wasim has been an exception and the left-handed allrounder displayed fabulous footwork and consolidated Pakistan’s chances.
The coaches don't need to look too far to give the rest of the team a lesson.