We are tired of seeing the same weaknesses in the team for years. Everyone expects pathetic wicket keeping, sloppy fielding and brittle batting from the Pakistan cricket team. Coaches whether they are local or foreign hardly make any impact. Everyone knows that the Chairman of PCB, whether he is Ijaz Butt or his predecessor Dr Nasim Ashraf, is often considered indispensable by board's patron-in-chief: the President of Pakistan.
So the all above reflected in Mohali match. Performance of the ace bowler Umar Gul against India was unbelievably poor. How a bowler so consistently well performing, all of a sudden forgets how to bowl, where to bowl. It must be thoroughly investigated. Why our recognised batsmen throw away their wickets in 30s. They surely need psychotherapy. We know the limitations of Misbah. He is being unduly criticised. Would the people be happy, had he thrown his bat away? Had he not stayed at the crease, the team would have been bundled out for about 150 runs within 40 overs.
It appears the captain did not plan any batting and bowling strategy at all. If he had any it did not workout and there was no alternate plan. Availing the batting power play too late tells that the on field planning was also missing. The wicket was not sporting. The bounce was uneven and it got slower and slower with the passage of time making the stroke play difficult. When the dew factor was imminent why there were day-night matches at all?
What is the criterion for man of the match award? It is not necessary that the best performance will always come from the winning side. I have never seen such a scratchy knock from the master batsman. On the other hand the superb performance of Wahab Riaz which greatly contributed to restrict the powerful Indian batting line to a score of 260 was totally ignored. Declaring the match day as full holiday at provinces and half day off at federal level had impacted adversely on already meagre economy. If we had reached the final there could be another holiday.