Pakistan has one more game to play, of course, against Bangladesh, which is also already out of disappearance for the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy. This match in Rawalpindi on Thursday is also threatened with serious rain, and perhaps a soggy outdoor field, having been a wet week in the city.
Javed spoke at length about the various permutations and selection combinations that could have improved the production of the this tournament team. But clearly still injured the defeat in India on Sunday, he also argued that the XI of India had a much more important set of work on their curriculum vitae than that of Pakistan.
“When Pakistan and India are playing, it’s not just cricket – it’s more than that. You need a lot of experience,” said Javed. “This Indian team was the most experienced – they have nearly 1,500 games together. And Pakistan is below, with less than 400 games together. If you watch players like Babar Azam is the only one to have played more than 100 games. Then there is Mohammad Rizwan (88 ODI) then Shaheen Afridi (64 ODI).
“The others have less than 30 games. Tayyab Tahir has played as eight games. Imam-ul-haq (73 games) returns to the team. The main thing is, when nothing works, and when you speak more than A game, then experience counts.
“Likewise, we had to call on Khushdil Shah because Saim was unfit. The reason is that in the cricket of a day, you cannot go with 5 only. You must make a combination of seven drummers and four Quicks.
“When Saim was there, he was beating the summit and he used to play five to seven overwhelms. When he was not there – we saw that if you were doing a little research – even with the wonderful performances as Khushdil Shah has given a cricket year and a half of crickets, his counters … There is no comparison.
In the absence of these players, it was at Big Five: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah and Shaheen to intensify, said Javed. But the winning performances of these players have never come.
These players have been part of the fire in particular in Pakistan since the team’s release.
“An ordinary person who does not play and is not part of the management of the team wants reasons and the names of the people because of whom this team loses,” said Javed. “Regarding Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen, Naseem and Haris, our plan was to do the best 11 or 15. There is no doubt that Shaheen, Naseem and Haris are excellent quantities. If you compare them with the attack Bowling from any team, they are one of the best options for quick denigration.
“And if you look at Babar – apart from him, what other options do you have? We always say that if the team loses, change the team. It’s already the most inexperienced team.”
Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior writer at Espncricinfo. @Afidelf
