Spinners, Babar Azam cost Pakistan the Asia Cup 2023 | Performance Review
Spinners, Babar Azam cost Pakistan the Asia Cup 2023 | Performance Review: With less than a month remaining in the 2023 Cricket World Cup, the Pakistan Cricket Team suffered a big reality check in the Asia Cup 2023. Pakistan entered the event as the top ranked ODI side, but their performance was not up to the mark, especially for a number one side (at the start of the event). Let it be the poor spin display or captaincy errors, nothing worked at all for Pakistan.
Pakistan managed to defeat only Bangladesh and Nepal in the event and lost to India and Sri Lanka. Although they did put up a fight in the virtual semi-final against Sri Lanka, but once again they failed to get the job done due to many reasons. Let us try to dissect what went wrong for Pakistan in Asia Cup 2023:
Captaincy Errors:
Babar Azam’s captaincy seemed to be questionable many times in the event. If we talk about the game against Sri Lanka, Babar held back the inform batter Iftikhar Ahmed unnecessarily. When Pakistan were 100/3 after the loss of Abdullah Shafique’s wicket, it was quite obvious that Iftikhar Ahmed should come on to bat, but Babar promoted Haris and then Nawaz ahead of Iftikhar. It can be said that he sent Nawaz to make the right-left combination at the crease, but Haris coming in before Iftikhar Ahmed made no sense at all. Haris, who is known for his hard-hitting and fearless game, could have been sent at the very end of the innings to score some quick runs, but he got promoted up in a situation where someone, who can build the innings, was needed.
Moreover, in the rain-hit contest, only 2 bowlers were allowed to bowl 9 overs. Despite Nawaz being more economical, Shadab Khan was allowed to complete his quota of 9 overs and not Nawaz. Shadab’s worrisome form is a big concern for Pakistan, but the Pakistani skipper seemed to be quite okay with Shadab bowling full-tosses and half-trackers in an important game. Shadab Khan ended the Asia Cup 2023 with 6 wickets, averaging 40.83 with the ball and his economy rate was 5.88.
Another major captaincy issue in the virtual semi-final was on the last ball, when 2 runs were required for Sri Lanka to win and Babar Azam did not set an attacking field at all. Although we can blame Zaman Khan a little bit for not bowling according to the field-set, but he was on his debut and it is the responsibility of the seniors to set a more attacking field-set to stop the batters from taking an additional run.
Babar Azam’s Form:
Another major concern for Pakistan was Babar Azam’s batting form. He kicked of the Asia Cup 2023 with a brilliant 150+ run innings against Nepal, however, he didn’t do much after that. Despite playing an ODI series against Afghanistan in Sri Lanka and playing the LPL 2023 before the Asia Cup 2023, Babar Azam failed to adjust in those conditions. After his 151 against Nepal, Babar scored 17(22) against Bangladesh, 10(24) against India and 29(35) against Sri Lanka before getting knocked out.
This is not the first time Babar Azam has failed to deliver as per his reputation in Mega Events. In World T20 2022, Babar Azam scored just 124 runs at an average of 17 while in Asia Cup 2022, Babar Azam managed 68 runs, averaging just 11. It is about time that Babar Azam delivers in big matches for Pakistan.
Spin Woes:
Despite the upcoming World Cup being in India, where tracks will be supportive for the spinners, Pakistan haven’t got a good spin attack. Their spin bowling remains their biggest problem. The lead spinner and Vice-Captain of the Pakistan side, Shadab Khan has been very mediocre in ODI cricket since the 2019 world cup. He averages 40 with the ball since 2019 world cup in ODI cricket. Although he is an all-rounder, but his primary role as a leggie is to pick wickets which he isn’t doing.
Mohammad Nawaz, the other spinner in this unit, managed just 1 wicket in 3 games averaging 94 with the ball in Asia Cup 2023. Nawaz’s numbers in ODI cricket are better compared to Shadab Khan. Since 2019 World Cup, Nawaz averages 29 with the ball picking up 24 wickets in 19 ODIs that he has played. Yet, it is crucial to deliver for your side in big events, which both the spinners have not been able to do so.
Conclusively, it can be said that Pakistan’s preparations for the mega event are not completed yet. They need to do better as a unit and focus on the game more and more. There is no room for captaincy errors in such mega events. Moreover, the spinners need to improve their game or maybe, Pakistan could start with Usama Mir and think something out of the box. If things do not change soon, Pakistan’s World Cup dream will be crushed, and it would be more painful than the last 2 World T20s or Asia Cups.
