KOLKATA: Pakistan cricket team’s head coach Grant Bradburn has given a reality check on the Pakistan team and agreed that the Green Shirts are still far from being the best in the world.
Pakistan have lost 4 out of 6 games in the ICC Cricket World Cup in India and their campaign now depends on the results of other teams as well with their own performance.
The side led by Babar Azam was ICC top-ranked ODI side ahead of this tournament and were termed as favourites, at least to be among the top four sides, in the tournament.
However, the recent form doesn’t reflect what the team’s rankings might have indicated and Bradburn feels that "skewed” rankings might not be the true representation of the team
When asked to comment on Pakistan's status as a favourite in the tournament, Bradburn pointed out that the team's number one ranking might have been misleading, as they haven't faced some top-ranked teams due to various factors.
“I'm not sure where you get favourites from because there are 10 teams in this tournament, there's 150 cricketers who are the best on the planet and in terms of the ICC rankings, we know they are skewed because we don't get to play India, we don't get to play a lot of the top nations who haven't been to Pakistan of late,” Bradburn said.
“We were number five in April, we became number one recently before the tournament, and that might be where you term the phrase favorites. But we're realistic. We have not been the best in the world as yet, so which highlights where we are in this tournament right now. We have no divine right to beat anyone in this tournament. We have to play quality cricket, and we have to put all three departments of our game together. We are desperate to bring joy to our nation.” he added.
“We are desperate to make our nation very proud of this cricket team. And we are also realistic in the knowledge that we haven't put all departments of our game together over the last four games but four losses does not define who we are as players, as coaches or a team, So we're determined now to focus on what we can control and that is putting our best on the park in these last three games and then leaving that to fate as — to determine the remainder of the tournament for Pakistan."
When asked about the team's reliance on other results going in their favor, Bradburn expressed the disappointment of not being in control of their destiny and said: "We wanted to be in control. We're not, and that's the reality that we've faced, and that's certainly hurt the group, and there's been a lot of disappointment over the last period of time."
Despite the challenges, he emphasised the team's determination to focus on what they can control and deliver their best performance in the remaining matches.
In response to questions about the team's morale and confidence, Bradburn said that the environment in the camp is excellent, and the players remain committed to bringing joy to their nation. He acknowledged that they haven't consistently met the high expectations placed on them but expressed their determination to improve.
“We're satisfied in the fact that we're prepared meticulously well for each and every game. But we're also realistic in the knowledge that we haven't put all departments of our game together and that hurts us because we haven't quite met the high expectations that we have of ourselves let alone our fans,”
“At times during this tournament, you know Sri Lanka was another good example of chasing down a record score. At times we have provided that joy and that hope and that proud cricket team that our fans want to see playing, a brand that makes them proud. But we haven't put that together consistently enough and we're determined to do so,” he said.
Bradburn admitted that the game against South Africa was a hard-fought game, with Pakistan having opportunities to win. He recognized the need for their top-order batsmen to stay longer at the crease and mentioned the constant effort to learn and grow from both wins and losses.
“We've had a skills meeting this morning and part of our skills meeting is that we reflect on the good and bad. And part of the admission for us is that we didn't have our batsmen going quite deep enough in that innings, and we probably left 20 to 30 runs out in the middle. And certainly 310 to 315, I think, in that game would have been sufficient to bring that game to a W [win] for Pakistan.”
“The one area that is key for us, we try and have one of our top four batters going through into the 40th over, we didn't do that and we have consistently I guess throughout our batting performance, when we were dominating the first two games, we had batters going through into that later phase and putting big scores on the board over the last four games. We've had batters that have gotten and haven't gone on. Those are some of the basics of the cricket that you all know so well that are vitally important for us too,” he said.
"We've got faith in our lineup and our players. And we certainly look at every performance, whether it's a win or a loss, good and bad. We critique every performance. And we try and grab the learnings and keep growing and continually improve - that's our mantra. And while it was bitterly disappointing not to get over the line against South Africa, we thought we'd done enough to get over the line, we didn't.”
“I'm pleased to say that we arrive at training today after a very good skills meeting this morning with a real determination to grow from that performance. We don't want to dwell too much on the past, we’re very much looking forward. We know Bangladesh very well. We've played them in the Asia Cup. We've played them before. As I said, this is a new venue for us. But we've done our homework, and we're very much looking forward to putting our best on the park over these next three games,” he concluded.
Faizan Lakhani Faizan Lakhani is Deputy Editor (Sports) at Geo News.