The last one-day international between Australia and Pakistan is in progress. Australia winning the toss fifth consecutive time has piled up 369 for 7 in 50 overs. Warner scored 179. Head scored 128. It is repeat of Sydney where our fielders had partnered with the Australian batsmen to make the run-feast possible. In this match too Warner could have been dismissed on the first ball of Amir if a difficult but possible catch had been taken.
How much difference a single dropped catch can make!
One-day game has changed dramatically in the recent years. In the Imran era, the formula had been: “If you can score 100 in initial 30 overs without losing more than 2 wickets at the most, you can make 150 to 175 in the remaining 20 overs.”
250 + was regarded as a tough target to chase. No longer so. The game has been taken over by BASHERS like Warner.
It all started with the likes of Jaysuria and Saeed Anwar. Shahid Afridi can also be mentioned despite his technical shortcomings.
Today Pakistan is the only team which is woefully ‘starved’ in the area of bashers. Sharjeel Khan is coming up, but you need shoulders that can ‘clear the boundary line’. Abdul Razzaq was an example. If you don’t have shoulders you need to have precise timing and technique.
Let us not blame our bowlers. Look at the matches between England and India. India won the first match chasing 350+. England scored 365 chasing in the second match and yet lost. In the third match India after being down and out nearly won chasing 321.
The lesson from this series is that we need batsmen who should be equipped to chase 350 + regularly or give a target like that to chase.
And we need bowlers who can be both lethal and economical on batting surfaces. They can’t be lethal if we drop catches with such generosity.
The crux of the matter is that we need 3 teams—one for Tests—led by a strategist—one for one-day international—-led by a scheming cavalier— and one for T-20s— led by a frontline basher.
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