Pakistan Plunges to Unprecedented Depths: Is This Its Lowest Point Yet?

Kolkata: Precedence is a weighty term in Pakistan cricket, as they have faced countless challenges in the past. From heartbreaking World Cup losses to damaging match-fixing controversies, internal conflicts that nearly tore the team apart, and being forced into exile following a horrific terrorist incident - Pakistan has endured it all. Despite the abundance of talent and unwavering determination to prove their critics wrong, it appears that the struggles in Pakistan cricket are no longer a thing of the past.

Losing a Test at home is hard to swallow. But losing to Bangladesh is probably more debasing than losing to India—a stigma that traces its origins to the subcontinent’s violent pre and post Partition history. The first blow was struck in the 1999 ODI World Cup when a bunch of rookies, led by the indefatigable Aminul Islam, shocked possibly the most talented Pakistan one-day side ever.

Twenty-five years later, they have now lost a Test too, almost by an innings, outplayed and outthought on a Rawalpindi pitch that played right into Bangladesh’s hands. With this defeat, Pakistan have now lost nine Tests at home, their second-longest stretch since 1969-75, and even then they had lost just one out of 11 matches.

The reactions, as expected, have not been very kind. Ramiz Raza calls the defeat ‘shameful’, Shoaib Akhtar feels Pakistan were ‘defensive’ while Shahid Afridi has questioned the overall mindset.

“A 10-wicket defeat raises serious questions about the decision to prepare this type of pitch, select four fast bowlers and leave out a specialist spinner. This to me clearly shows a lack of awareness about home conditions. That said, you cannot take the credit away from Bangladesh for the brand of cricket they played throughout the Test,” Afridi wrote on X.

Former wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal isn’t even sugarcoating this defeat. “Had Rizwan not scored a 50 and ran the scoreboard, you would’ve lost by an innings,” Akmal said on his YouTube channel. “You haven’t learned anything in the last five years. You lost to Zimbabwe. Last year, you were eliminated from the Asia Cup, you were humiliated at the T20 World Cup. Made a complete mockery of Pakistan cricket.”

Repeated it might be, but the angst is getting real. Losing to Australia at home is one thing, but this defeat is being viewed as a probable point of no return by many.

Not surprising too, given the appalling limited-overs year Pakistan have endured, failing to qualify for the ODI World Cup semi-finals before being embarrassed by USA in the T20 World Cup where they couldn’t even make it to the Super 8s. And to think of it, not long ago Pakistan were at the other end of the spectrum—becoming No 1 Test team in 2016 and lifting the 2017 Champions Trophy after handing India one of their heaviest defeats in the final. The downfall couldn’t have been more spectacular.

And it has begun to reflect on Pakistan’s accounts too. Only three days ago, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had to reportedly be forced to sell their broadcasting rights for nearly half the reserve price. The current tour isn’t being televised in India, a rare miss. But more ominous is the news that the PCB is yet to secure a UK broadcaster for the tour of England this October. It points to a growing narrative that Pakistan cricket isn’t sellable anymore, something that only their cricketers are to blame for.

At the heart of this narrative probably is the rapidly eroding belief that Pakistan can bounce back from any low, like they had done so often in the past. And it’s intrinsically linked to the performance of their most prominent stars. The batting was devoid of grit and planning in Rawalpindi, while their fast bowlers hardly set the pulse racing. Shan Masood erred in selection—picking a pace-dominant attack—before letting Bangladesh set up the game by batting slowly.

Babar Azam is out of touch for so long now that there must be a mental angle to it that Pakistan need to probe. And then there was the flip-flop over captaincy that reportedly drove a wedge between Babar and Shaheen Afridi, with both clearly not being able to juggle duty and ambition. Which is a bigger shame because at no time did Imran Khan and Javed Miandad or Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis ever let their differences affect their show.

Most uncharacteristic though is the way Pakistan tried to find a scapegoat in the Rawalpindi pitch, with Masood saying they had anticipated more assistance for their seamers even though this isn’t the season to leave a smattering of grass on one of the flattest pitches in the entire subcontinent. Passing the blame instead of owing up to defeat isn’t exactly a Pakistani trait. And that’s what sticks out the most in this alarming low.

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