Bangladesh might now have a better ODI team than Pakistan. This sentence would have been unthinkable 20 or even 10 years ago. And yet, that is where we are and no one can say that it is not deserved. In the third and decisive ODI against Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, Mirpur, Bangladesh on Sunday, the men in green were tasked with chasing down a target of 290 runs. The Pakistani bowlers were taken to the cleaners, conceding 105 runs before the first wicket fell and the Bangladeshi batters almost put together a second 100-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Tanzid Hasan was the pick of the batters, putting together a stunning 107 runs off 107 balls. Ultimately, the imposing total would prove too much for Pakistan, who fell short by 11 runs. One could argue that any team would have a tough time surmounting this total and reaching 279 runs is not a bad performance. But the fact is that Pakistan lost their first five wickets for just 82 runs. Had the top order not collapsed, Pakistan would probably have won and Salman Ali Agha’s 106 runs off 98 balls would have gotten the victory it deserved.
Agha had some help from Abdul Samad and Saad Masood, who put up 34 and 38 runs respectively, and Shaheen Afridi put up a brave 37 runs off 38 balls. Sadly, given the way the game ended, Afridi’s poor bowling performance, conceding 55 runs for just one wicket, is what will be remembered. While Pakistan were not swept in this ODI series, winning the second ODI by 128 runs, that victory now seems to have had more to do with the rain and the Duckworth-Lewis method than anything else. While this is not the first time Pakistan has lost an ODI series to Bangladesh, getting swept 3-0 during an away tour back in 2015, this result is harder to dismiss as a fluke. Within the last two years, Bangladesh has beaten Pakistan in a test and T20 series for the first time, the former being particularly notable since it took place in Pakistan. And now they have won their second ODI series against Pakistan. Who knows how far Bangladesh would have made it had they decided to play in the recently concluded T20 World Cup?
While Pakistan did show up for the tournament, their disappointing campaign tells a story of decline. The kind of performances we have seen in recent years show a team struggling with both bat and ball and failing in crunch moments. It is particularly notable that a country like Bangladesh has managed to grow in cricket despite the political instability it has recently endured. This kind of administration is something our country’s sports administrators could certainly learn from. As concerns the cricket team, it is now clearly time to go back to the drawing board. The country needs to update its approach and get with the requirements of modern-day cricket. It is hoped that this imperative will not be lost under the razzmatazz of the upcoming PSL. And this is perhaps the most important lesson of all: having your own lucrative franchise league appears to be entirely disconnected from having a better national team.
