If there was ever a case for a team to forfeit a game before it went to its end, Pakistan surely must have had that right today. Another unlucky bowling and listless fielding performance followed. David Warner has surely being leading a charmed life once again and Mohammad Amir must be thinking of what kind of sacrifices he has to make at which altar to ensure that his fielders can take some catches off his bowling. First ball drop off Warner was followed by a record breaking stand as Travis Head partnered Warner really well and put the Pakistani bowling to the sword.

I also do not understand what kind of rocks reside in Wahab Riaz’s head? He is the most pacy bowler on both sides and yet doesn’t follow Starc’s example in bowling fuller and at the stumps where he can utilize his pace to the fullest. It always seems that he is destined to be a bowler that can never win Pakistan any games but is always looking to be support cast. Mohammad Amir and Junaid Khan can take some memory lapsing pills or perhaps call the Men in black for a memory reset function. Or if suicide was an option in Islam…..with such diabolical fielding which would be astray on a grade 3 team.

The last two games have been an exercise in futility for Pakistan’s bowlers and I am not sure what the Coach can do for them in this aspect. Fielding is supposed to be a confidence thing and if you don’t have the confidence then all you do is drop them…as is currently what is happening.

At least with this match coming to an end, this terrible and dark period has come to an end. This was supposed to be the best chance for Pakistan to re write history but instead this was the most listless, pathetic and one sided performance ever. This was more a revisit to a Pakistan side we thought was left in the past, but instead it has been resurrected. The side that would lose the game within the first ten overs of the game and it could be apparent from their body language.

It is a testament to the weakness of the current Australian team that Pakistan’s brittle batting has been able to still somewhat match them in terms of totals made. But truly this entire two months has been Pakistan dismantling itself rather than being dismantled by Smith and Warner. There has been nothing imaginative done to counter anything that the Australians have done in this series. Australia has done the only thing that they have been doing everytime they lose overseas. They come back home, prepare placid pitches, and make sure that they bat first in every game and make more runs and then just get bowlers who can bowl at 140+ plus and blow away the opposition by making use of the scoreboard pressure. But If a team is strong enough in mind, they would realise that there is no spinning option for the Australians and Starc and Hazelwood are the only two bowlers of note and you can take advantage of even them as they bowl a lot of four balls. But with Pakistan it seems, if the opposition makes any kind of total of 300+ total, they just shut up shop and never seem to get close to the total.

Instead now, the excellent and amazing experts of pakistan will blame the bowling for not restricting the Australians and that we are should be playing to our strengths. But really if you don’t hold catches don’t blame the bowlers. And if the opposition can make a certain total, why can’t Pakistan do the same??? The batsmen aren’t supposed to be simply giving up. The Pakistan team seem to be a one trick pony, the bowlers have to keep the total under 250 and then the privileged batsmen can make the runs otherwise forget about it. Its just too much and the normal collapse seems to occur with the consistent regularity that would make a woodpecker drilling a hole blush.

Nevertheless, Sharjeel has been the standout player and has performed really well. Babar Azam has also made a really good hundred too. I think both of the players will be able to take a lot of positives from this tour and be strong candidates for a new batting line up for Pakistan. Rest of the batting has been disappointing, Shoaib Malik, Hafeez and Umar Akmal havn’t really set the world on fire at the moment. They are supposed to be the backbone of the batting, shepherding the chase and stepping up to the occasion when required.

I am not sure how much time does Umar Akmal needs to be a regular in the team. The talent has always been there, he tries to show a lot of flair but never has the results to really back up any of it. But really, he started with Virat Kohli who has charged up to heights uncharted by batsmen and Umar Akmal remains a “Talent”.

Great things were expected when Inzaman came to power and with the England tour, Pakistan showed the world that they could slug it out with the best and come out on top, lack of home resources or not. Where has that approach gone?? Where has that preparation gone?

I think the poor coaches have run out of words to really say anything anymore. Perhaps this is just a period that we should all forget and move on from. But this means now for the first time, Pakistan has to qualify for the World Cup and even now they seem to have no answer to the way the game is being played all around the world as such. 250 totals are not the norm, hopefully we can get to see some more talent in the upcoming version of the PSL and see some batting prodigies come to the fore that can bat in the middle order.

Perhaps we should thank our lucky stars that there is no series with India at the moment, otherwise we might be seeing a few more records being broken…