Looking back at Pakistan's record over the past few months, there are glimpses of sheer brilliance followed by a shoddy performance, which seems to overshadow all the hard work put in prior to it. The side looked to be in top form in the two encounters against Australia in Holland and England, raising supporters' hopes of a full revival. Coach Bob Woolmer was showered with praise for instilling discipline into a lot of highly talented cricketers and it showed, as we saw the Pakistan team heading onto the playing field with a serious game plan and attitude. Targets were chased in methodical fashion, yet they could not deliver the finishing touch on both occasions, allowing the World champions to come out on top twice. However, the young side did not receive any harsh criticism because it had definitely provided a tough fight to a full strength Australian side.

The victory against India in the ICC Champions Trophy gave Pakistan supporters much more to cheer about, and it appeared as if the team had the potential to go all the way and clinch the tournament. Sadly, the side crumbled to a seven-wicket defeat at the hands of a rejuvenated West Indian side. The decision to bat first under seamer-friendly conditions mystified all cricket pundits, yet the team management could offer no adequate excuse for the thinking behind this blunder.

Then came the Paktel Cup at home starting in September and this trend continued, with Pakistan again looking impeccable in the run-up to the final, with convincing victories against Sri Lanka while chasing sizeable totals (which has so often been their Achilles heel). Again there was a surprise in store for fans as the team conjured-up a huge loss to Sri Lanka in the final and were even accused of being 'chokers'.

As always, it is baffling trying to put a finger on the reason behind Pakistan's mercurial nature. The coach certainly appears to be doing a good job with fitness levels visibly improving, but the batting is still very brittle albeit having a star-studded line-up.

The team has been playing a lot of one-day cricket and for Test cricket the management needs to figure out the optimum transition from ODI’s to the longer version of the game. This will be difficult with too many bits and pieces players in the team. Test cricket is a game played by specialists, and the team would do well to replace the ODI-oriented players. One also has to bring in some more young and agile talent to replace stalwarts like Moin Khan.

The number three slot in the batting order still appears to be the weak link. Yasir Hameed appeared to be the perfect candidate for the job, with Taufeeq Umar and Imran Farhat shaping up as a competent opening pair for Tests. Yet, Taufeeq has not been considered for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka and there is talk of Asim Kamal being asked to bat at a position where Inzamam and Youhana, our most experienced campaigners, consistently shy away from. Surely, if any one batsman has to be asked to play at this pivotal position, it should be the best batsman in the side - quite clearly Inzamam.

One can only hope for a spirited effort to recover from the one-day mindset in time for the Test series as that is likely to set the tone for Pakistan's upcoming tour of Australia, probably the final "litmus test" for the side.

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2004 Taha Noor email:tahanoor82@yahoo.com)