Friday 5 February 2010

Consistent failures from positions of strength, where does the problem lie?

It's really baffling to see time and again we are losing matches after matches after gaining some ground and reaching a position of strength. ODIs and Test matches alike, it's the same old story. We will dominate few sessions, few passage of play here and there and eventually throw it all out to succumb to a big defeat.

We are not probably good enough to challenge the opposition on a consistent basis, we probably don't believe in our abilities when we are on top and lack the killer blow.

If we look at our cricket history, it's a tale of lost opportunities. Multan, Fatullah, Chittagong, Darwin... everywhere we failed to cross the line after positions of strength.

I personally think at any point of time we always have a poor team combination and occasional personal brilliance put us on top, but failures from others allow the opposition to come back strong and we can't simply resist that.

Rafiq, Bashar and Nafees put us on top against Australia in Fatullah, the rest failed to give them minimal support and we know the result. Same happened in Chittagong where Shahadat and Shakib put us on top against India and the rest simply didn't bother to turn up. Tamim's brilliance gave us hope in the second Test and the rest decided to play spoilsport.

Again today, we had our moments both during bowling and batting, but at the end thrashed by 146 runs!!!

We are probably not good enough yet to win matches against top eight teams as we still rely on personal brilliance and oppositions failure.

We all understand Ash has to go, but can't find a suitable replacement. Roqibul needs a break but who is there to stand up and take the opportunity? Aftab? Probably not. We desperately need three top order batsmen to take the positions of Ashraful, Roqibul and another opener who will play sensibly. I don't see them coming, do you?