CricDigs Blogs

Sri Lanka’s overwhelming victory in the third and decider of the three-match ODI series just about summed up the way the Pakistanis have played throughout this series. People would have thought that a team which was trying to fight for its place in the international cricketing scene and players who have been hit hard by a self-inflicted economic crisis would be desperate to showcase their talent and would be at their most tenacious and the Pakistani players usually are when they are pushed towards the edge.

However, it was a disappointing performance by the home team. In fact, most of its players looked reluctant to perform anywhere near their best for some baffling reason. May be the financial situation within is much more serious than what has been told to the media.

Shoaib Akhtar was on a comeback trail but looked extremely unfit. At times, he was struggling to run in and bowl as early as in the second over of his bowling spell!! No wonder Malik, the Pakistani Captain, was reportedly furious with Shoaib’s performance. Shoaib was supposed to have lifted the spirits of the team but he managed to do just the contrary. Their batting too didn’t really click except for the first one-dayer but in that match it was the Lankans who were guilty of not being serious about their business as they literally handed out a win to Pakistan.

Pakistan look like a team in some severe need of inspiration and where that would come from is anybody’s guess. One really can’t expect their captain to be the motivating factor. His body language and approach is just to laidback.

The Lankans got their act together from the second one-dayer onwards and have found an opening replacement in the form of Dilshan. He has been in pretty good batting form and could upset the likes of Zaheer/Ishant in the upcoming five-match ODI series. To sum it up, this was an absolutely boring cricket series and for most part, it looked as if the two teams had been hustled to participate and their unwillingness to do so was very evident.