Main causes of Pakistan’s below par performances in ICC Events

[Sarwar89]

I am going to divide 21st century ICC events into two eras.

1) 2000-2012

2) 2012-2024

2000 ICC champions trophy ( Semi Final )

2002 ICC Champions trophy ( Group Stage )

2003 ODI world cup ( Group stage)

2004 ICC Champions trophy ( Semi Final )

2006 ICC Champions Trophy ( Group stage )

2007 ODI World cup ( Group stage )

2007 T20 World cup ( Final )

2009 T20 World cup ( Winner )

2009 ICC Champions Trophy ( Semi final )

2010 ICC T20 World Cup ( Semi final )

2011 ODI World cup ( Semi final )

2012 T20 World cup ( Semi final )

In 12 ICC Events
6 Semi Finals
1 Final runners up
1 World cup win

Total 4 Group stage exits. And 8 Semi finals
% Semi finals 66.66

Reason of fair bit of consistency, better skilled players with better techniques & mentally slightly stronger than current lot.


Part 2

2013 ICC Champions trophy ( Group stage )

2014 T20 World cup ( Group stage )

2015 ODI world cup ( Quarter final )

2016 T20 world cup ( Group stage )

2017 ICC Champions trophy ( Winner )

2019 ODI World cup ( Group stage )

2021 ICC World test championship ( Group stage)

2021 T20 world cup ( Semi final )

2022 T20 World cup ( Group stage*) almost

2023 ICC Test championship ( Group stage*)

2023 ODI World cup ( To be decided)

2024 T20 World cup ( to be decided)

(Note : * running tournaments but group stage exit almost confirmed)

In 10 Completed ICC Events ( excluding 2023 odi wc & 2024 t20 wc )

1 Semi final
1 Winner
8 Group stage & Quarter final exits

% of Semi finals 20%

So we can see % of playing semi finals has declined from 67% to 20 % from 1st phase 2000-12 to 2013-2022 era

Ofcourse we threw games even in 2000-12 era
Notably mohali 11 & saint lucia 10 or even 2009 icc champions trophy semi final, there was mental fragility but somewhere down the line those teams were far far more consistent. From this sample it appears we are regressing. Infact current lot is considered more talented than previous lot.

What i can see is
This lot lacks game awareness. The manner 2019 group stage world cup game was thrown away v Australia sealed our fate.

Not sending rauf or naseem or shaheen over wasim jr or in last ball not sending naseem or rauf over shaheen + shadab’s silly shot, these little things change the course of history.

Mental fragility is always there from 2000 but game awareness was better in that era.

 

[Cric1234]

The main reason for the performance in the last decade is the changed of tactics first employed by Misbah go slow first then hit out later clearly they haven’t worked.

A number of teams selected especially in ODIs in the last decade the top 4 had the worst strike rates of all the main international teams with this formula and mindset success will be hard to achieve as we have seen.

 

[Markhor]

- Typically slow starters to tournaments. We lost 3 matches in 2019 WC before we woke up.

- Lack of tactical plans that take into account the conditions of host country - instead we pray for individual brilliance to spur us on.

- Muddled selection policies. Typically we wildly chop and change before tournaments (2015 and 2019 WC) hoping to stumble on right combination. This year was the other extreme in refusing to test bench strength even in meaningless matches.

- Lack of game awareness as mentioned.

- Mental fragility under pressure which's most evident in our fielding.

Despite that we've managed to win two ICC tournaments and were runners-up in 2007 WT20 so our record isn't all bad.

 

[UzmanBeast]

- Typically slow starters to tournaments. We lost 3 matches in 2019 WC before we woke up.

- Lack of tactical plans that take into account the conditions of host country - instead we pray for individual brilliance to spur us on.

- Muddled selection policies. Typically we wildly chop and change before tournaments (2015 and 2019 WC) hoping to stumble on right combination. This year was the other extreme in refusing to test bench strength even in meaningless matches.

- Lack of game awareness as mentioned.

- Mental fragility under pressure which's most evident in our fielding.

Despite that we've managed to win two ICC tournaments and were runners-up in 2007 WT20 so our record isn't all bad.

One point I would like to add is that match awareness is not present; players do not know what the crunch stages in games are, and as a result, are caught napping when oppositions press the bowling.

 

[Aman]

Lack of quality and mettle.

They had no right losing the matches they did to India and Zimbabwe. They should be sitting 3/3 right now.

 

[Syed1]

1. Saqlain and Yousuf implementing Allah tawwaqul coaching methodology.

2. Rizwan and Babar playing for their stats

3. Zero middle order. Mohammad Wasim selected Ifti chacha, Khushdil, Asif and Haider as our middle order . Is this is the worst ever middle order we have fielded?

4. Shaheen weeks away from full fitness

5. Rigid captaincy. Lakeer ka faqeer Bobby executes his pre-decided plans regardless of match situation.

 

[Plumb]

We are still living the 80s 90s life... I dont think we use any tactical plan before the game...may be just some religious talk and motivational quotes on the board.

Other Team do their homework, analysis, stats and so much more.. Today Babar Azam says oo ya now we know to bowl length ball on this pitch.. you seriously kidding me? so you didn't look previous games? BBL stats? previous 5 T20s? conditions? hello????

From Cricinfo:
Haris Rauf: "We tried to bowl the hard lengths and are satisfied with our results. We started with full lengths in the last match. But yesterday we spoke about bowling hard lengths and have had success today.

 

[Nasty Naz]

Look at Pakistan's rankings in ODI's for years. It's been mediocre.

Only reason the T20 ranking is so high is because they play every series at full strength. The results reflect the middling team they have been in LOI for decades with an outdated approach still stuck in the 80's & 90's. Other teams have simply been consistently better than them for years.

Other teams have also innovated while Pakistan have remained the same. You look at top teams like England/Australia/India etc and somehow, everyone's got a SR of 140-150+ while Pakistan doesn't even have anyone at the international level with a 140+ SR. We don't have coaches or captain who use data or analytics and just try to copy cat other teams tactics.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Players having severe mental breakdowns at crucial stages of the game.

Hasan Ali at 2021 World T20 semi-final

Shadab Khan at 2022 Asia Cup

Now, Mohammad Nawaz twice at 2022 World T20 opening two games

When one player literally just forgets how to play at a crucial juncture, you can’t do much about it

We have been hard done by, enough said

 

[Justcrazy]

Lack of talented players , Pakistan batsmen are not top level , they are pretty average.

Secondly , tactical efficiency is less , very ordinary coaches at the top level.

 

[Executioner]

I don't think Pakistan has been below par in general in ICC events. I think they have done well, including winning 2009 T20 WC and 2017 CT.

I thinkg a lot of you are missing out on the fact that in an ICC event there are a lot of teams playing and there is no way one can say that they SHOULD win the world cup before the tournament begins or even before the semis. Now, if you have expectations that Pakistan have the greatest talents and facilities in the world and should win every ICC event then that is a different thing.

Things could be so much worse, WI in the last edition were thrashed in 4 games and won only one game vs BD which BD literally gift-wrapped to WI. This year, they looked absolutely hapless and they're the side that has won two T20 WCs.


In ICC events, I would say overall SA are underachievers. They do well in group stages and then goes onto lose the knockouts

 

[Nikhil_cric]

The teams have never been good enough.

 

[sjahmed23]

I would blame our batting for it. I dont know what they are doing at the grass root levels but Pakistan is not producing any dynamic batsmen which is very concerning. Maybe this is due to tape ball cricket? Idk

Pakistan does not have a single batsman who can play 360 shots under pressure.

 

[Sarwar89]

I would blame our batting for it. I dont know what they are doing at the grass root levels but Pakistan is not producing any dynamic batsmen which is very concerning. Maybe this is due to tape ball cricket? Idk

Pakistan does not have a single batsman who can play 360 shots under pressure.

Excellent point

 

[Usergame]

Players having severe mental breakdowns at crucial stages of the game.

Hasan Ali at 2021 World T20 semi-final

Shadab Khan at 2022 Asia Cup

Now, Mohammad Nawaz twice at 2022 World T20 opening two games

When one player literally just forgets how to play at a crucial juncture, you can’t do much about it

We have been hard done by, enough said

Harris Rauf- not Nawaz that cost Pakistan the game vs India.
The 2 poor deliveries that got hit for 6 was the losing of the game.

 

[Usergame]

Players having severe mental breakdowns at crucial stages of the game.

Hasan Ali at 2021 World T20 semi-final

Shadab Khan at 2022 Asia Cup

Now, Mohammad Nawaz twice at 2022 World T20 opening two games

When one player literally just forgets how to play at a crucial juncture, you can’t do much about it

We have been hard done by, enough said

I would blame our batting for it. I dont know what they are doing at the grass root levels but Pakistan is not producing any dynamic batsmen which is very concerning. Maybe this is due to tape ball cricket? Idk

Pakistan does not have a single batsman who can play 360 shots under pressure.

Pakistan lost the 2021 semi due to their bowling.
They also set india 160 to win and couldn't defend it after having them 30/4.
Bowling is severely overrated-Pakistani fans just cant admit it.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Harris Rauf- not Nawaz that cost Pakistan the game vs India.
The 2 poor deliveries that got hit for 6 was the losing of the game.

Push comes to shove, Nawaz should have done better than bowl a 9-ball last over in the India game and should have scored 3 off 3 against Zimbabwe.

The lead up could be anything, but Nawaz is to be blamed for choking and costing us four points. He deserves the blame for completely disintegrating under pressure.