Pakistan must find the weight of history oppressive

February 13, 2015 04:48 pm | Updated February 14, 2015 03:55 am IST - ADELAIDE

Pakistani bowler Mohammed Irfan. India and Pakistan open their campaign in the ICC Cricket World  Cup 2015 by facing each other on Sunday at the Adelaide Oval.

Pakistani bowler Mohammed Irfan. India and Pakistan open their campaign in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 by facing each other on Sunday at the Adelaide Oval.

Pakistan went about its business quietly at the Adelaide Oval on Friday; Grant Flower kept up a grim throw-down routine at one corner of the nets; nearby, Nasir Jamshed occasionally half-chuckled at something; elsewhere, Mohammed Irfan stood in sober discussion with Mushtaq Ahmed, dwarfing him terribly; and Younis Khan smiled often, stopping for a photograph here, a handshake there. Their faces or actions betrayed no anxiety about the impending examination, for that is what a game against India invariably is.

Pakistan must find the weight of history oppressive – five World Cup matches against the great rival and no wins. To bind five fixtures spread over some 20 years with a common thread seems silly, but the record exists and Pakistan is made aware of it time after time. It cannot be a pleasant feeling.

“It happens; that’s the beauty of the game,” was Moin Khan’s explanation here. “Whenever we’ve played India in the World Cup, they’ve played well and they’ve deserved to win that. But there’s another opportunity for this new Pakistan team. It’s an opportunity for them to make history. They can be the team which breaks that record.”

Clear pattern But it isn’t as if those results are not interlinked at all. In 1992, ‘96 and ‘99, there’s a clear pattern: Pakistan fields first and then buckles miserably during the chase. In Sydney, the last eight Pakistani wickets fell for 68 runs; in Bangalore, the last four for 17; and in Manchester the last five for 56.

Centurion in 2003 was probably an exception, when Pakistan was done in by an extraordinary Sachin Tendulkar innings. Waqar Younis had sent his men in to bat on winning the toss, but it didn’t alter the outcome.

The next time in Mohali, Pakistan dropped Tendulkar four times before being slowly strangled in its chase of 231. Under pressure, there have been too many mistakes, too many rash decisions. Each of these matches has been closer than the scoreboard suggests, but where India has managed to keep its head, Pakistan has lost its.

Pakistan, it seems, is fighting not just India but the force of its World Cup history. And with each defeat, the burden only grows heavier, the pressure more asphyxiating.

“The mentors and the coaches of the team have spoken to the players about this, about being mentally strong,” said Moin, now the Chief selector. “If you think you are under pressure you can’t perform. You need to enjoy it. India-Pakistan matches always give you a boost and if you perform here it can prolong your career as well. Of course there’s tension but that adds to the experience.”

Moin is a veteran of India-Pakistan contests, holding the wicket-keeping record for the most dismissals in them (71, with M.S. Dhoni a distant second on 31). For inspiration, Moin said, the coaching staff had been pointing players in the direction of 1992 when glory felt pre-ordained and inevitable.

Adelaide made a vital contribution to that triumph, of course, when rain interrupted England in its chase of 75. Pakistan escaped with a point, exactly the margin by which it sneaked into the semifinals. “It was the luckiest match for us,” Moin grinned. “It was a great memory and we are back here and feeling good.”

Three days later, though, Pakistan met India for the first time in the World Cup and lost. That memory Moin needs erasing.

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