T20I cricket comes to Lahore, but it's not the same Pakistan as on TV

[Torrent Disney]

Cricket really has its own, cruel ways. A team that trekked the globe mopping up T20Is for fun have seen Sri Lanka wipe the floor with them when the game returned home, in front of an adoring public who had been convinced of the quality of their side based on their television screens. Was it really the same side they had watched on TV pummel West Indies in Port of Spain, hammer Australia in Harare and New Zealand in Auckland? Did Pakistan, brushed aside by a Sri Lankan team cobbled together from among the consenting and the capable, really win 29 of 33 T20Is since the end of the last World T20?

The patterns of play Sarfaraz Ahmed's side - and for now, it remains his side - had executed so ruthlessly over the past three years have vanished in the Lahore evening. On each of the two nights, they fielded first, and found themselves on the back foot within the first Powerplay. This, in itself, is not unusual; with only two fielders out of the circle, batsmen will look to apply the pressure. Pakistan have experienced it, Pakistan have dealt with it. Pakistan have dished it out too. But on Monday night and Saturday, they simply couldn't.

Sarfaraz used five different bowlers in the Powerplay on Saturday, with Danushka Gunathilaka, the man whose chanceless century in the third ODI in Karachi had served as a warning shot to Pakistan, running riot against a side that had plotted itself into disarray. Sri Lanka smashed 64 in those first six, and on a day when Pakistan's fielding was so abysmal it may have left Steve Rixon (now sat in the Sri Lanka dressing room) red-faced with vicarious embarrassment, the visitors went on to notch up 165.

"Misbah has been roped in despite his lack of coaching experience for a cricket brain believed in some circles to be among the sharpest in the country. It is difficult to reconcile that with the unnecessary gamble he took with Shehzad and Umar, guaranteed to reflect poorly on him if they failed and prove little if they didn't"

This allowed Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad the opportunity to show why they had been called back into a side that had risen to world No. 1 without them.

Instead … Shehzad was lucky to survive nine balls; he should have been dismissed at least twice before then, while Umar needed just the one to play across the line and find himself trapped plumb in front. Babar Azam's rare failure took the asking rate close to nine.

Just over a year ago, Pakistan had found themselves in a similar situation in the final of a tri-series against Australia in Harare. Two wickets in the first over had set them back in a chase of 184, with the required rate rising to ten after just two overs. The two at the crease, though, understood the importance of ensuring runs continued to flow; without that happening, the game would be gone anyway. An improbable hour and a half later, they had won with four balls and six wickets to spare.thanks