Bring out the guillotine

There were just a handful of spectators present at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium when Shakib Al Hasan drove leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed through the covers for a boundary that sealed Bangladesh’s 2-0 Test series triumph against Pakistan.

Thank God for small mercies.

Bangladesh’s six-wicket triumph in the second Test on Tuesday which came just days after their stunning 10-wicket win in the first Test at the same ground marks one of the darkest chapters in Pakistan cricket history.

Not even the most ardent of Pakistan’s critics could have predicted a 2-0 result in favor of the visitors. After all, Bangladesh hardly looked like a side that had the firepower to topple Pakistan in their own backyard.

Pakistan seemed to have readied themselves for a clean sweep against Bangladesh. They tried to prepare a bouncy greentop in Pindi and fielded a pace quartet in the opening Test.

They played it without a specialist spinner, a very unusual option at least in these parts of the world.

But all their tactics backfired as Bangladesh cruised to a ten-wicket victory.

Looking for a series-saving win in the second and final Test, Pakistan were once again unable to rise to the occasion as they failed to capitalize on the opportunities that came their way, allowing Bangladesh to walk away with probably their most memorable red-ball triumph of all time.

So, what went wrong for Pakistan?

Almost everything.

From planning to execution, nothing worked.

In the lead up to the series, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) hired Australia’s Tony Hemming as chief curator. His first assignment was to prepare the pitches for the Bangladesh series. Pakistan team’s think-tank asked him to prepare a pace-friendly surface.

Things, however, didn’t go according to the plan. And in the end, it was Mehidy Hasan Miraz, the 26-year-old off-spinner, who turned out to be the architect of a famous Test win for his country on a track that was supposedly prepared for the likes of Shaheen and Naseem.

In the second Test, Pakistan showed a complete lack of killer instinct needed to win matches as they allowed Bangladesh to recover from 26-6 in the first innings.

While Bangladesh batters like Mushfiqur Rahim and Litton Das hit match-winning knocks in the series, Pakistan saw their former captain Babar Azam, current skipper Shan Masood and otherwise prolific opener Abdullah Shafiq surrendering meekly to the opposition.

Babar, whom many of his fans like to compare with the best batters in the world, continued his poor red-ball form as he had scores of 0, 22, 31 and 11 in the two Tests. Shafique fared even worse with 2,37,0 and 3.

Shan, who was looking to save his captaincy and probably even his Test career, also flopped with just one fifty. His scores were: 6, 14, 57 and 28.

Bangladesh cricket team poses with the trophy after winning Test series against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.AFP

Heads should roll

Such is the scale of Pakistan’s embarrassment that if it were medieval times a guillotine would be placed in front of the Gaddafi Stadium and heads would have rolled.

It would be easy to say that the first of the proverbial heads on the chopping block would have been that of Shan Masood. With the twin defeats he now suffers the ignominy of having the worst start for a Pakistan captain with five consecutive losses since taking over the command of the Test squad.

It would also be easy to blame the likes of Abdullah, Babar, Shaheen, Naseem etc. And it wouldn’t be unfair considering the fact that all of them were way below par in the series against Bangladesh.

Blame the men at the helm

However, the rot for Pakistan cricket begins at the very top.

For years, Pakistan cricket has been run on the whims and fancies of chairmen handpicked by people in the corridors of power. And Mohsin Naqvi, the current PCB chairman, is just following suit. Under him, Pakistan cricket has suffered a series of major upsets that include shock defeats against lowly teams like Ireland and the United States.

Naqvi’s supporters sell him as a ‘doer’. But it's quite evident that whatever he is doing is not working. At least not when we are talking about the country’s cricket team.

Naqvi, also Pakistan’s Interior Minister, has been trying one former cricketer after another in a bid to put the team back on track. But Wahab Riaz failed to click, Waqar Younis stepped aside and now Azhar Mahmood and Co could be shown the door.

Azhar, an influential figure in Pakistan’s coaching staff that is spearheaded by Australian Jason Gillespie, was part of the team that spectacularly fell to Bangladesh in a game of the 1999 World Cup in Northampton, England.

Chasing a modest victory target of 224, Pakistan were bowled out for just 161, failing against the gentle medium pace of Khalid Mehmud (3-31). Earlier, Azhar gave away 56 runs off eight overs.

It was, at that time, seen as Pakistan’s worst ever defeat in cricket history. It felt like Pakistan cricket had touched rock bottom in an English town known for its shoe industry.

Twenty-five years later, Azhar was part of the squad that has revived memories of that shocking loss. And it hurts more as this time it has happened at home. But thank God again, there weren’t many fans around to see it happen.