Behind Pakistan’s debacle: 26 selectors, 4 captains, 8 coaches and a system with gaping holes

While decoding Pakistan’s campaign, former captain Wasim Akram was brutal with his assessment. “There is nothing strong about Pakistan when it comes to cricket,” he would say with his former teammate with whom he shared an envious partnership with the ball Waqar Younis nodding in agreement.

In the lead up to the Champions Trophy the expectations were high. This was after all a team that had gone an entire year without playing an ODI since the 2023 World Cup, had posted series wins in South Africa and Australia. But as they found out through the course of the tri-series and the Champions Trophy all those expectations were clearly misplaced, and showed they haven’t learned lessons from the past.

Since winning the last edition of the Champions Trophy, apart from the T20 World Cups, where they reached one semi-final and a final in 2021 and 2022, their cricketing curve has been descending in ODIs and Tests. Since the World Test Championship came into effect, in three cycles their standing reads thus: 5th, 7th, 9th (bottom placed). In the 2019 and 2023 World Cup, they finished fifth, failing to even reach the semi-finals. And now in a 8-team Champions Trophy they have failed to get past the group stages.

Having gone about investing heavily on infrastructure for hosting the Champions Trophy, it appears Pakistan were never really ready for the tournament. Compared to their glory years, this is a team that is bereft of talent. Though they have historically relied on their pace pack, at different eras have had at least a couple of batsmen who were on par with the rest of the world, if not better.

But, in this current set-up their best batsman Babar Azam is miles behind the Fab Four. Beyond him, Pakistan doesn’t have a batsman, whose arrival can signal fear in the opposition. From being a mercurial side that gave world cricket moments that stand the test of time, they are now a team that plays predictable cricket.

Their current coach Aaqib Javed who took charge in November, said his prime focus is the Champions Trophy, a tournament for which he would be investing in continuity. “Our main focus at the moment is on ODI cricket ahead of the Champions Trophy. You’ll see a settled team in this format,” said Aaqib who was bowling coach of Sri Lanka in mid-2024 before becoming a selector of Pakistan and then becoming a head coach in a span of five weeks.

Also interestingly, while putting Aaqib in the hot seat, PCB also retained his spot in the selection committee, which his predecessor Gary Kirsten – hired after the 2023 World Cup to make Pakistan world beaters in white-ball — didn’t enjoy and led to his exit without even coaching them in a single ODI.

So for the Champions Trophy, despite pressing for continuity, Aaqib and his panel of selectors which includes former umpire Aleem Dar and stat analyst Hassan Cheema and three bureaucrats made changes at the eleventh hour. Though Saim Ayub’s unavailability was a huge setback for the batting unit, they dropped Abdullah Shafique one of the stand-out performers at the 2023 World Cup, on the back of his horrendous outing in South Africa where he became the first batsman to not get off the mark in a series.

In came Fakhar Zaman, who had fallen out with PCB after posting a critical comment for their decision to drop Babar. They also called back Faheem Ashraf who had not played any international cricket in the whole of 2024. And if all of it wasn’t enough, their three fast bowlers – Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf – whom Aaqib compared with the two Ws, have seldom shown signs of coming of age. Despite being capable of clocking 145kmph and more, the trio have appeared listless in terms of plans and execution.

Since the start of the tri-series and till their match against India, Afridi has figures of 3/88, 2/66, 1/45, 0/68 & 2/74. Shah has 0/70, 1/68, 2/43, 2/63 and 0/37. Rauf has played only three, and in those matches has gone for 1/23 (6.2 overs), 2/83 and 0/52.

For a team that produced many game changing moments with the ball that led to winning games from improbable situations, against India they appeared an attack that couldn’t ask any questions beyond the two deliveries that Afridi and Abrar Ahmed bowled.

Akram, summed up what has gone missing in Pakistan. “Characters are missing. The fearless, aggressive attitude is missing. We are getting used to being ordinary.” From extraordinary to just ordinary – Pakistan’s downward spiral is on without end in sight.