Getting Pakistan on top

August 2016, against all odds and with no home support Pakistan had risen to Number 1 in ICC Test rankings, a remarkable feat when you realize that they have been playing all their cricket overseas for the past few years and Zimbabwe's visit to Pakistan in 2015 aside, no full member has visited Pakistan since March 2009.

Just six months later, Pakistan cricket finds itself on a low. Pakistan are not even in the top 5 of the Test team rankings, a lot of questions have been asked about to leadership, the mindset and ability of the players and calls have been made to get a new captain for the side.

Pakistan Test Captain is of the opinion that the problem lies at the grassroot level and efforts need to be made from at the very bottom. ""Make anyone captain - Azhar or Sarfraz - but unless we solve our problem deep down, whoever comes in will face problems. We have to improve domestic cricket and groom talent. If we want to do well in England, Australia and South Africa, we have to give the players maximum experience of playing there. If a player keeps on playing here [in Asia] and all of a sudden does a tour of Australia or South Africa after six years, it will be difficult for him [to perform]."Misbah said at a press conference at Faislabad after a disappointing series in Australia. 

Inzamam will chair a conference with current and former players in March (Source:AP)

While one has to agree with Misbah that the problem lies at the grassroot level one needs to think about how to get Pakistan back at the top of the sport. The major problem for Pakistan cricket team is that they lack stability and make too many changes too soon. Furthermore, they do not seem to have proper planning when they got out in the field, particularly while chasing a target. Like Misbah said, they have all the talent in the world but they somehow fail to execute on to the field. 

For any team to succeed in the world of sport, they need to have players with natural talent and Pakistan certainly have them in abundance. Their main problem is that they do not seem to go well as a team and lack proper idea to execute in the field. Furthermore, people in Pakistan have this habit of making comparisons with the cricket being played by their neighbor, India. India for once seem to have a far clear goals set as a team about their goals but even they were not this good and despite the fact they have always had a great batting lineup they never were chasing 350 in ODIs on a consistent basis or chasing down or coming up youngsters who respond with good performances (Jadhav, Bumrah and Nair to name a few) until recently.

Pakistan needs to take a leaf out of world cricket and if they insist from cricket in India. The success of top teams lies in having a clear role and have a set plan once they enter a field. Pakistan needs to pick this up, get a set goals for themselves and try and gel up as a team and also set a benchmark for themselves comparing themselves to the best teams in the world. 

One other visible facet of cricket why Pakistan are looking down the barrel is their batting. Their batsmen seem to get choked up in the middle and get out while trying to hit their way out. Umar Akmal, who has represented Pakistan in close to 200 matches across all formats is a prime example of the lack of plans in the Pakistan batting order. There are calls that new players should be called up and the batsmen should be running more ones and twos in the middle overs to be more successful which sounds good but without proper planning in mind and willingness to take on the best in the world and to beat them, no team can ever succeed no matter how many talented and skilled player they pick or how hard they train. 

Considering the fact that Pakistan likes to draw comparison with India, they can look back at what happened to a star studded Indian team in the 50 over World Cup without proper goals in mind - they lost in the league stage of the World Cup after losing to then minnow, Bangladesh.

If Pakistan relinquish their ego and sit together and make their goals set they will be able to play more freely and make an impact on the game. Apart from that, they need to ensure that the best 11 men play in the team regardless of their influence on the administrators of the board. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) seem to have finally decided to keep political influence aside and have rightly went for calling a two day conference with their current and past players on March 6 and 7 in Lahore chaired by chief selector, Inzamam ul Haq which will see legends like Imran Khan, Zaheer Abbas and Wasim Akram amongst others brainstorming on ways to improve the performances of Pakistan's senior and junior teams. We hope for the betterment of Pakistan Cricket and World Cricket as a whole some concrete ideas will come out of the conference and Pakistan will soon find its way to the top as a team rather than being a reflection of scattered performances of individual brilliance.