What could go wrong for Pakistan did go wrong. Not only did Pakistan emerge out of this tournament as a weak pushover board, it was also exposed as a weak team and all the hype surrounding its ranking, Babar’s batting and its bowling fizzled out badly.
- PCB was forced to host matches in Sri Lanka. Playing India only in Sri Lanka would have been understandable, but the fact that they were forced to play Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka when Pakistan was the host nation was embarrassing.
- Pakistan loses to India by a record margin after making tall claims and making bullish statements for a week.
- Injuries and loss of confidence Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf get injured, Shaheen has lost confidence after the “they cannot play him” narrative ended in complete humiliation.
- India plays its backup players and lose to Bangladesh which meant the number 1 ranked team finished last in the table
- Indian pacers blow Sri Lanka away in the final proving that even their pace attack is better than Pakistan’s.
- The World Cup is only a few weeks away where Pakistan will be traveling to India of all places with all the baggage and the PTSD of the Asia Cup. There are no bilateral series against underpowered teams before the World Cup where Pakistan can pretend to be the number 1 team, Babar can pretend to be the number 1 batsman and the pacers can pretend to be the number 1 pace attack.
- Lack of cohesion in the dressing room cannot be dismissed as weak media reports. When there is smoke, there is fire. For the first time 4 years of Babar’s captaincy, there have been reports of arguments and infighting in the dressing room. Losing and losing in this fashion can destroy the team culture and spirit. This could be the beginning of the end for Babar as captain and those days of grouping had lobbying could be back.
All in all, Pakistan have had many disastrous tournaments in the past but surely, considering all factors and the timing of this tournament, the 2023 Asia Cup has to be the biggest disaster Pakistan has ever had and it will take something special to brush this aside, that too before the World Cup.
It is safe to say that Pakistan cricket before and after the Asia Cup is not in the same state.