‘Chalaaki is the Pakistan way’: Rashid Latif’s advice to Babar Azam and team ahead of Afghanistan match

Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif blames the team's technical director Mickey Arthur for imposing a style of cricket which is not the brand Pakistan cricketers are used to playing.

Pakistan's captain Babar Azam inspects the pitch during a practice session ahead of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup match between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Chennai, India. (AP)

Written by: Rashid Latif

6 min readOct 23, 2023 08:02 AM IST First published on: Oct 23, 2023 at 07:53 AM IST

What is Pakistan’s brand of cricket?

Chalaaki, street smartness, improvisation – these are the key elements of Pakistan cricket. And in this World Cup, these aspects are missing from this team.

I don’t want to put the blame on the players. Instead it is Mickey Arthur, who should take the blame for Pakistan’s consecutive losses against India and Australia. He is imposing a style of cricket, which we Pakistanis can never relate with. We lack match-winners in this squad.

As a captain, Babar should take the cue from Rohit Sharma’s approach. Rohit takes on the bowlers from ball one. That’s the statement of a captain. Babar can do that, but he needs to get out of his comfort zone.

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In this tournament, Pakistan has hit only 15 sixes; meanwhile, they conceded 19 against Australia only. In the percentage of attacking shots, Pakistan are lying last with 43 per cent. Against Australia, we needed 103 off 72 balls (8.6 per Over) with 6 wickets in hand. It was not really an improbable task for any good side in such conditions.

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Rizwan should have taken the game deep like he did in Hyderabad against Sri Lanka. Our batsmen are not able to adapt to ODI cricket. I always give the example of MS Dhoni, when it comes to chasing. He used to take the game deep, because he knew that with 15-20 needed in the last over, it is the bowler who is under pressure.

Pakistan vs Afghanistan Live Streaming: Pakistan cricket team

PAK vs AFG World Cup 2023 Live Streaming: Pakistan’s Haris Rauf, left, playfully punches bowling coach Morne Morke during a practice session ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup match between Afghanistan and Pakistan in Chennai. (AP)

There were a few positives from the last match, with Abdullah Shafique and Saud Shakeel playing some innovative shots. My advice to Babar Azam and the team will be to try and improvise. Dictate terms, don’t let the part-timers slip their overs.

The way Australian openers played was excellent. They were in attacking mode right from the first over. There was intent. Then we dropped Warner, and we paid for it. Marsh dropped Kohli and he won the match for India. You can’t drop such catches in a big tournament. Call it cliche but catches do win you matches.

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The Australians attacked Haris Rauf. They targeted him in the first over, and looted 24 runs. Rauf conceded 59 runs from his first four overs. It was a deliberate attack. Rauf also didn’t bowl well. Again there was a lack of game awareness. In this tournament, if you will notice, the bowlers, who have attacked the stumps have been the most effective. Look at Bumrah, for example.

Express fast bowlers like Rauf and Mark Wood will not be effective. See how Heinrich Klassen and Marco Jansen treated Wood. He looked so ordinary. In Indian conditions ‘pace is pace ‘ formula will never work. If you bowl short of a length, you will be punished.

Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam and other players during a practice session ahead of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 match between Pakistan and Afghanistan, at MA Chidambaram Stadium, in Chennai, Sunday. (PTI)

But in the case of spinners, it is the other way. Spinners should never feed the batters, and they should not bowl into the stumps. They must force batsmen to take risks. This is what Kuldeep and Jadeja have been doing. Adam Zampa didn’t bowl well in the last two games but picked up wickets because once he realised that he can’t afford to bowl at the stumps, he brought his length back.

Pakistan’s best spinner Abrar Ahmad is in the travelling reserves. The likes of Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, and Mohammad Nawaz don’t play Test cricket. They are good T20 bowlers and if the team management has believed that ODI’s are the extended version of the T20, then they are wrong. In ODIs, you can’t get away. It is the shorter format of Test. Abrar has played Test cricket for Pakistan, has experience of playing the first-class. He is currently the best spinner in Pakistan and he is not even in the final fifteen. Pakistan selectors did miss the trick there.

Before the Afghanistan game, the team management must take a call on Fakhar Zaman. I don’t know the extent of his injury. Imam and Shafique have more or less cemented their spot at the top and the team management doesn’t want to play Fakhar in the middle order if he is set to miss more games, he should be replaced by Abrar in the squad. Put Fakhar in the travelling reserves, like Sri Lanka has done with Dasun Shanaka. I also want to see Shadab back in the playing XI. It was wrong in the first place to drop him. If you have picked him as an all-rounder, you need to back him all the way.

We have had a history of turning things around when our backs are against the wall. My only advice to Babar Azam and co is to be chalaak in the middle because that’s the Pakistani way.

Rashid Latif is a former Pakistan captain; he spoke to Pratyush Raj.