Toughest ever home season for Pakistan

[Vinod Gopani]

By Moin Khan
Victory has many mothers but defeat has no father. That seems to be the case with the Pakistan team. The team that was considered as the second best after Australia until the one-day series started against India, is now the prime target while Inzamam-ul Haq, billed as a ‘messiah’ after reviving the fortunes, is now the pariah of Pakistan cricket. I believe some of the criticism is unwarranted, biased and aimed at settling personal scores while some is justified.

Inzamam, rightly so, is in the firing range for a couple of simple reasons and he needs to understand and accept them.

Firstly, he did not score many runs and secondly he did not expose himself as one of the fittest men on the field. I went through the annals of Pakistan history and found out that it was the toughest ever home season of Pakistan cricket.

There have been instances when Pakistan have played two home series in a season but one of the two series used to be comparatively easier. But in this case, Pakistan first played against the Ashes winners and then took on the traditional rivals.

To me, the tough season took its toll on the players and by the time the one-day series was half over, their gas tanks were empty.

And Karachi was the perfect example of their approach when they were hoping for things to happen rather than making things happen.

The worst that happened to the Pakistan cricket team was the absence of Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi. Not withstanding that these two characters keep motivating the players and keep the spirits of the players high, they are also the integral component in scheme of things in one-day cricket.

The present looks gloomy but I do not think there are clouds of crisis hovering above. This is a multi-talented team and is excellently gelled together with Inzamam still maintaining his fatherly figure stature. One series defeat cannot take away the achievement of winning everything last year.

It is just about how quickly they learn from their mistakes. Every loser is a winner one day — Pakistan struggled in 2004 and started winning in 2005. Year 2006 may not have had a good start but only fools would write off this team that has shown its tenacity and ability to fight back when the chips are down. Let us give them some time to regroup so that they start delivering again.