Is it any surprise, given this churn, that players new and established look so frazzled? Who does Abdullah Shafique turn to, to claw out of the rut he has been in? Who tells Babar Azam what is going wrong and how to make it right? If the development of Pakistani bowlers is arrested across all formats, is it any surprise?
Different chief selectors. This stellar list includes Shahid Afridi (as with all the best Afridi interventions, it was short-lived), Haroon Rasheed (the new Intikhab Alam, finding a way back into any and every administration with such frequency that he’s never actually been out) and Wahab Riaz . It is as many head selectors as Sri Lanka, Australia, England and South Africa put together have had over the same period. Australia have had five different chief selectors since 1996-97. What’s more, as part of various committees (and including the chiefs) 23 different men have selected Pakistan teams since August 2021.
Full-time captains. Other than stand-ins, Babar, Shaheen Afridi and Shan Masood have been the only full-time Pakistan captains in this period. Given the backdrop above, their own brutal history with captains (in 2010 alone, Pakistan used four), and that Australia (4), England (4), Sri Lanka (6) and Bangladesh (5) have all used more men across all formats in this period, this should be remarkable.
Somehow, one after the other, two administrations managed to unsettle two of the side’s most valuable players and, to no surprise, here both are, struggling with their games and here is Pakistan, with two official captains, looking leaderless on the field.
Off it they are looking worse.
Published 01:55 19 Sep 2024 GMT+1Take your shots to the next level.This article contains affiliate links and LADbible Group might make a commission on anything
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