Pak off track

In the end, for all the flair and ability a sportsman may possess, it is the discipline he brings to his craft that determines how successfu...

In the end, for all the flair and ability a sportsman may possess, it is the discipline he brings to his craft that determines how successful he is. That is where Pakistan lost this one-day series in spite of being the better team on paper. You got the feeling they were merely turning up, like spoilt millionaires with unlimited expense accounts. The good coaches will tell you that matches are often won by teams that are better prepared off the field. Pakistan weren’t.

In our part of the world there is a certain arrogance about indiscipline, the feeling is that the rules are for someone else. Look how we have traditionally made fun of New Zealand, for example. And yet they are above both India and Pakistan in both test and one-day rankings. The whole needs to be greater than the sum of the parts. With Pakistan the sum of the parts produced a miserable whole. They are a far far better side than this.

The coach will have to take some of the blame. Javed Miandad is a colourful character but he cannot be the face of Pakistan cricket. His time was a glorious time but it has gone. India discovered that when Kapil Dev was briefly coach of the Indian team. His own persona was so overwhelming that he could never surrender himself to the team cause. The best coaches are neither seen nor heard.

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It wasn’t just the no-balls and wides that troubled Pakistan. On the field they were shocking. Traditionally teams from the sub-continent haven’t been great fielding sides, India have their share of slow-movers as well. But India fielded a little better than Pakistan and caught significantly better. It is the little things in life that often determine which side wins and Pakistan have discovered it the difficult way. They should have taken the series.

Still, they will be very satisfied with two major gains. Most days Shoaib Akhtar bowled better, and with greater control, than he has allowed himself. He seems to talk about the team a little more than he does about his own performances and that is an indicator of a greater team ethic. There is little doubt that he is the most difficult player to face in international cricket. Maybe he needs a little more responsibility and he might just revel in it the way Beckham did under Sven-Goran Eriksson.

I think Yasir Hameed is a very special player. He carries himself lightly and there is a lovely style to his batting. And if I hesitate to nominate him as the next big player in world cricket it is only because Pakistan are so impatient with their talent.

In spite of being a more settled side India had a few gains too. And none bigger than Irfan Pathan who, after just two tours, looks like he has always belonged at this level. His length is fascinating. In one-day cricket most bowlers are happy to bowl a safer length, just behind the ideal rather than fuller. Pathan is willing to risk the occasional drive off him because by temperament he is a wicket-taking bowler. There is no doubt at all that he will become an all-rounder in course of time and maybe he should start batting at number five or six outside international cricket.

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Balaji doesn’t quite have the same flair; he doesn’t assault your senses, he creeps up on them. But like every good modern cricketer he is happy to develop a second skill. Today if you are a bowler you must be capable of contributing 10 or 12 runs and while he has a style all his own, he has contributed.

My feeling before the series began was that Pakistan were a better one-day side than a Test side. Over the next three weeks that hypothesis will be tested. It will be interesting to see if Pakistan are stung enough to play the bright cricket they are capable of; or whether the finger-pointing that is so rampant interferes with their preparation.