Poor results, instability, chaos: What’s wrong with Pakistan cricket?

Under grey skies at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, veteran Bangladesh cricketer Shakib Al Hasan smashed Pakistani leg-spin bowler Abrar Ahmed for a boundary that sealed his team’s six-wicket win in the second Test match and a historic first men’s Test series win over the home side.

Shakib punched the air and embraced his teammate Mushfiqur Rahim as the rest of their teammates rushed onto the ground to join in the celebrations on Tuesday afternoon. Before the series, Bangladesh had lost 12 of the 13 matches between the two sides.

As Pakistan captain Shan Masood and his side trudged off the ground, the dark clouds reflected the doom and gloom surrounding Pakistan cricket. The men’s side had just been clean-swept in a home Test series for only the second time in their history.

Pakistan have not won a Test match at home since February 2021 – a winless streak of 10 games.

Bangladesh fans celebrate as they watch their team inch closer to a win in the second Test against Pakistan at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium [Aamir Qureshi/AFP]

What has gone wrong with the Pakistan cricket team?

Historically, Pakistan may have been one of cricket’s powerhouses, but their recent performances have nosedived across all formats of the game. The triumphant runs at the ICC Men’s 50-over World Cup in 1992 and the T20 World Cup in 2009 are a distant memory.

Be it defeats against lower-ranked sides in bilateral series or shock results in global events, Pakistani cricket fans have seen it all in recent years.

Pakistan’s last notable performance came in November 2022 at the T20 World Cup in Australia, where they eventually lost a one-sided final against England.

What have Pakistan’s results been like since November 2022?

Pakistan failed to go beyond the first round at the T20 World Cup 2024 when they infamously lost to cricket novices the United States, who only qualified for the tournament as one of the co-hosts.

In the lead-up to the tournament, Pakistan lost a T20 match against Ireland for the first time.

At the Cricket World Cup 2023 in India, Pakistan lost five of their nine matches and exited the tournament at the group stage.

Of their last five Test series, Pakistan have won one – away to Sri Lanka in July 2023.

In numbers:

• Tests: Played 12, won 2, lost 8, drawn 2
• ODIs: Played 25, won 14, lost 10, no result 1
• T20s: Played 54, won 25, lost 26, tied 1, no result 2

What happened to cricket in Pakistan? When I played the PSL, the standard of that league was tremendous, the players had a very good work ethic and the youngsters on display were magic.

What’s happening there?

— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) August 26, 2024

Can someone explain why Pakistan have been so poor?

It’s hard, but Al Jazeera asked Micky Arthur, who was Pakistan’s head coach from 2016 to 2019 and overlooked affairs as team director in 2023.

Arthur believes Pakistan have no shortage of “quality players”.

“There are some incredible players [on the Pakistan side], but what the team lacks is stability,” Arthur said moments after Pakistan’s loss in the second Test.

“Stability comes from the top: in team selection, consistency in players’ roles and making sure every player understands his role,” he explained.

“The instability within Pakistan cricket creates chaos, and the players ultimately start playing for themselves because they do not know what the next regime has in mind. It breeds mediocrity.”

Bangladesh rockets to fourth place in the #WTC25 standings after their historic series win over Pakistan! 🇧🇩👏#BCB #Cricket #Bangladesh #PAKvBAN #WTC25 pic.twitter.com/eIpZLVfSTx

— Bangladesh Cricket (@BCBtigers) September 3, 2024

What’s this ‘instability’?

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been through an upheaval since late 2022 when then-Chairman Ramiz Raja was sacked by the federal government. The country’s cricket ruling body has since been led by three chairmen, each bringing with him a range of changes to backroom staff and team leadership.

The current PCB head, Mohsin Naqvi, has been in charge since February 6, and he also plays the role of Pakistan’s interior minister.

How has it affected the team’s captaincy?

Pakistan’s ignominious group-stage exit from the ODI World Cup in November was followed by their all-format captain Babar Azam’s resignation.

The PCB decided to split the captain’s role and handed the reins of the Test team to Masood while fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi was entrusted with the T20 leadership.

However, when Naqvi took over as PCB chairman, he sacked Afridi after just one series and reinstated Babar.

As for the ODI captaincy, the matter remains up in the air as Pakistan have not played in the format since November.

Babar Azam was reappointed as the T20 captain in March after quitting the role in November [File: Glyn Kirk/AFP]

How many people have coached Pakistan since November 2022?

Seven! In chronological order, they are: Saqlain Mushtaq, Abdul Rehman (interim coach), Grant Bradburn, Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Mahmood (interim coach), Gary Kirsten (current white-ball coach) and Jason Gillespie (current red-ball coach).

Arthur was Pakistan’s coach when they won their last ICC title, the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017, and he believes the revolving door policy is having a detrimental effect on the team.

“Different coaches bring different ideas and have different roles for the players, ” the 56-year-old former South Africa coach said.

“It leads to uncertainty, inconsistency and forces players to start playing for themselves,” Arthur said.

Pakistan have a month to get it together. Bangladesh played some excellent cricket. England, who won 3-0 on their last visit in 2022, will be an even greater challenge. There's a serious threat of back to back whitewashes at home. There's very little time...but what you change?

— Aatif Nawaz (@AatifNawaz) September 3, 2024

Who are some of the underperforming big-name players?

Babar, Afridi and Shadab Khan.

Arthur believes these three are “undoubtedly very good players” but can be judged only on their form.

“Sometimes players get wrapped up in thinking what’s going on around them instead of focusing on their form,” Arthur said.

In Test cricket, Babar’s and Afridi’s numbers have taken a severe blow and former vice captain and limited-overs specialist Shadab has failed to live up to expectations in ICC events. Here are their cross-format numbers since 2023:

Babar Azam (batting)

• Matches: 57
• Innings: 61
• Runs: 2,172
• Highest score: 151
• Average 37.44
• Strike rate 88.25
• 100s: 3
• 50s: 16

Shaheen Shah Afridi (bowling)

• Matches: 49
• Innings: 54
• Wickets: 96
• Best bowling figures: 5-54
• Average: 24.19
• Economy rate: 5.1
• Strike rate: 28.4
• Five-wicket hauls: 1

Shadab Khan (all-round)

• Matches: 37
• Runs: 462
• Highest score: 48
• Batting average: 18.48
• 100s: 0
• 50s: 0
• Wickets: 24
• Best bowling figures: 4-27
• Bowling average: 48.41
• Five-wicket hauls: 0

Shaheen Shah Afridi was rested for the second Test against Bangladesh after a poor run of form [Anjum Naveed/AP]

How did the captain react to the defeat?

Masood, the Test captain, said he was “extremely disappointed” after the loss against Bangladesh.

Here’s how he summed it up: “We were excited for the home season. The story has been the same as Australia, and we have not learnt our lessons. We thought we were playing good cricket in Australia but not doing the job. That’s something we need to work on. It has happened four times in my tenure that we have let the opposition back into the contest after dominating.”

Five losses in five Tests with Masood as captain. Should he resign?

Masood has struggled with form as a batter since taking on the Test captain’s role. He has made 286 runs in five matches and struck three half-centuries with a high score of 60.

But the tall left-handed batter is not to be blamed – not entirely, according to Arthur.

“Shan Masood is going to be a very good captain, but he needs to be given the time to develop his primary role of scoring runs,” the South African coach said.

“That’s where the coaches and support staff come in.

“They need to be able to take that pressure off him so he can deliver on the field. When a captain is confident in his own game and feels supported, he ends up playing much better.”

Arthur said Masood is the “right person” who can be a very good captain if he is given time and support.

Pakistan captain Shan Masood has been in poor form since taking on the role [Aamir Qureshi/AFP]

How has PCB chair responded?

Naqvi predicted more changes after Pakistan’s loss to India at the T20 World Cup in June and famously called the action a “surgery”.

And then after the loss in the first Test against Bangladesh, he said: “The problem is the [team] selection committee has no pool of players to choose from.

“I spoke of surgery because we need to fix our problems, but when we look at how to resolve them, we don’t have any player pool which we can draw from. The whole system was a mess.”