The Pakistani cricket squad faced another setback in their ongoing five-match series, recording a fourth straight loss to New Zealand on January 19th, a Friday that would only further their disappointment. Led by newly appointed captain Shaheen Afridi, the team’s performance on this particular tour has been far from satisfactory. Each aspect of their game, from batting and bowling to fielding, has failed to shine, and this ruthless series has anchored a gloom on their play which remains unchanged since their World Cup campaign.
Post-World Cup repercussions saw a shake-up in the team structure when Babar Azam relinquished his captaincy across formats. This led to a reorganization within the team management as well, with key positions being taken on by Mohammad Hafeez as team director and Wahab Riaz as the selector. In an attempt to revitalize the team’s performance, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) enforced a split-captaincy strategy, handing over the Test captaincy to Shan Masood while bestowing the T20I leadership to Shaheen Afridi.
However, despite these structural changes, the team’s on-field fortunes remained bleak. Since November 4th, Pakistan has suffered through eight successive international defeats and has been without a win for a startling 76 days. Their defeat streak, starting with a loss against England, thundered on through a whitewash in Test matches against Australia, and now has spanned four T20 Internationals versus New Zealand, all on foreign soil.
Amid these disappointing times, the Test series against Australia did offer a glimmer of competitive cricket from the Pakistani side, showing glimpses of dominance at certain points during the final Test in Sydney. Unfortunately, their batting line-up failed to capitalize consistently, and this deficiency cost them dearly.
Transitioning to the T20 International realm, their struggles solidified. In the first three matches against the Kiwis, Pakistan chose to field first but subsequently leaked over 190 runs each time, revealing a faltering bowling unit. Only Babar Azam could muster any resistance with the bat, hitting a half-century in each of the three games, while the remainder of the batting order crumbled and lacked the resilience needed to chase down the hefty targets, sealing the series in New Zealand’s favor.
As New Zealand invited Pakistan to bat first for the first time in the series, expectations shifted optimistically towards the guest team. However, Mohammad Rizwan was the lone warrior, scoring an unbeaten knock of 90 from just 63 balls. His efforts were in stark contrast to his teammates, who failed to muster a competitive score, leaving Pakistan with a modest total of 158. Despite an early advantage with New Zealand reeling at 20/3, Pakistan failed to secure victory once again, as Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips forged a match-winning, unbeaten partnership of 139 runs for the fourth wicket.
The fifth and final T20I is slated for January 21, casting immense pressure on the Pakistani side as they desperately search for a redemption win to break their distressing international cricket winless streak. Questions remain – can Pakistan salvage some pride with a closing victory, or will New Zealand complete a ruthless clean sweep? The answer awaits as the cricketing world watches with bated breath.
