Pakistan hope to move from reverse gear into fifth

Facing a summary exit if they stumble again, Pakistan aim to put their World Cup campaign back on the rails in Paarl here against lowly-rated Holland on Tuesday.

Paarl is in the wine country in the Western Cape. The weather is dry and hot, and if the forecast is to be believed, likely to remain so with the temperature around 32 degrees celsius.

The wicket, though not genuinely dicey, is not an easy one to bat on. It is the venue where Holland made India struggle to just 204 before the latter prevailed, and where Sri Lanka blew away Canada for the lowest one-day international score of 36. That match was over in just 115 minutes, it also was the shortest ODI ever.

But Pakistan must banish such thoughts; whatever the conditions, they have to conquer them. There is no option for them but to win against Holland, and win big. And then keep on winning against India on March 1, and Zimbabwe on March 4 to survive and stay in the hunt for one of the three Super Sixes slots from their group.

Since they are way down on the points table at the moment, with only Holland and Namibia below them, that is the least they can do to be back in reckoning. If weather and upsets by other teams do not end up thwarting them, it should be enough.

But with eight Pool A games still remaining to be played, who knows what might transpire. But their disappointing loss against England may continue to haunt them for quite some time to come.

"We have to do it the hard way now", said the Pakistan coach Richard Pybus, "and I hope that the pressure of the situation brings out the best in the boys and makes our batsmen perform".

With skipper Waqar Younis and manager Shaharyar Khan absent from the regulation pre-match press conference, after conducting a long session at the nets in searing heat, Pybus fulfilled his share of the responsibility by facing the media.

Blaming Pakistan's misfortunes squarely on the batting collapse, he conceded that in the setback against England "some bowlers may have bowled an over or two too many, but the side's bowling and fielding was competitive. Three wickets in the space of three deliveries early on pulled the rug from under us. The remaining batsmen got sucked into the situation and that further complicated things."

On the possibility of an angry reaction back in Pakistan, which is quite likely if there is no radical transformation in the team's fortunes, Pybus said that though he and Waqar felt accountable, but he was not overly concerned about that. "We can take care of certain technical aspects, the rest depends on execution on the field".

When asked whether the side lacked the ability and influence of batsmen like Javed Miandad or Saleem Malik, Pybus said: "Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana are champion batsmen. The experienced players between them have more than 1500 one-day internationals. That is the kind of experience no other team has. The bottom line is that they have to perform".

With the prospect of exit looming large, Pybus thought his batsmen need to bat all the way. "I wish I had a magic wand to make our batsmen perform," he said. Though he was concerned about the non-performing middle-order, he added that the Pakistan batsmen mostly perform in two gears: fifth or reverse, and hoped that from here on it would be the former.

Inzamam and Youhana's woeful run has made things rather difficult for the late order, and it has crumbled under the pressure. "Unlike Australia or South Africa, we lack genuine all-rounders, as we have bowlers who can bat a bit", said Pybus.

In this regard, Azhar Mahmood still remains untried. A genuine batsman with an exciting repertoire of aggressive shots and an under-rated swing bowler, Azhar merits an outing in place of Abdul Razzaq, who seems jaded and has mostly struggled since his comeback from injury.

Despite a string of poor scores, Shahid Afridi might retain his place because he adds to the depth in bowling. With the bearded figure of Saeed Anwar showing committment and skill despite not having made any sizable score, and likely to get the nod, the rest of the eleven pretty much picks itself.

The toss will again be critical, for Pakistan need to bat through 50 overs to see their top order batsmen recapture a semblance of form, and also to improve their net run-rate. This is far more important than Wasim Akram getting his 500th wicket (which he should have had except for a leg before decision that went the other way) or Shoaib Akhtar blasting the Holland batsmen into oblivion.

A contrast of such silken skills and red hot pace, Akram and Akhtar look great when they bowl in tandem, making a chill run down the spines of batsmen. But in reality it is the flowing drives and ferocious cuts and pulls of Anwar, Afridi, Inzamam and Youhana that are the need of the hour for Pakistan.