Looking back will only hurt Pakistan

If you’ve been a good reader at Snicked, you would know how much I hate Pakistan but since a couple of days, especially since the way Pakistan played against Sri Lanka, I’ve been moved. Moved not towards fanning Pakistan, but fanning the way they played that day. Even after so many sucky things surrounding them, they put up a fight and came close to the game. They bowled all fine; but those two debutant really bugged the entire team.

But, one could easily say that if there was no Afridi that day, they were no where around – but then at the end of the day, it was the team that looked good, looked nice even after losing the game. Here’s what I felt talking about on Cricdude…

Albeit a loss in the first Asia cup game would’ve hurt the Pakistan team and the fans a lot, the performance put up by the bowlers and a couple of batters were stupendous to say the least. With innumerable political issues making rounds around the team, plus ugly match-fixing allegations and of course the disciplinary problems of some players vexing the side; the game took a backseat, and naturally the performances were hampered a plenty.

Then comes the first game of Asia cup where even after losing the toss, Pakistan managed restricting the opposition to a total around 240. What more, the allegations of the team not being united enough to play at the highest level looked daft and the two disciplines of fielding, and bowling looked fine enough. Shoaib Akhtar made a remarkable comeback and Shoaib Malik did well to, at least with the ball. Aamer and Asif complemented Akhtar giving their best though the former were a bit on the expensive side. Afridi and Razzaq checked the run-rates and ensured Sri Lanka had no huge advantages.

Pakistan struggled with the batting up-front but that was due to the fact that two debutant were placed in the top3.  If Pakistan can arrange their line-up in a way that does not exposes the new comers so early in the innings, then the batting part could also fall in place perfectly. The way Pakistan came back hard, thanks to Afridi, Umar, and Abdul Razzaq was fantastic and that gave a hint that Pakistan is just coming back to normal.

Apart, with they adapting their old jersey color, it looked more of a Pakistan of the 2000s rather than what we know of now.

Their batting now looks quite stable except two debutant and that is not a major problem, a simple jumble in the batting order could do the amends. And the fact that they bat deep down till number 8 also gives them a good edge. And with Younis Khan’s return being speculated, all Pakistan need to do is to apply well in all departments of the game and play with a pinch of self-confidence.

If Pakistan starts digging and analyzing the past facts, all they’ll get is poor performances. Pakistan should only look forward, play the way they are supposed to and comeback strongly into the game.

So, the simple thing is, I would like Pakistan play as good as possible and would kinda support as well (not if they play India naturally). They should not retrospect, that’s it.