Forget 114 and believe it: Pakistan cricket is in great health

The PSL - bigger and better - is about to start, and there are bilateral series coming up that Pakistan will win, so it won't be tough to forget the 114 all out quickly

Danyal Rasool

Published: Mar 12, 2026, 3:53 AM (4 hrs ago)

Why would you have the impertinence to be pessimistic about the future of Pakistan cricket? You look like you have watched them get bowled out for 114 or something. Surely you're not sulking over that defeat to Bangladesh, are you?

Results, you see, don't matter in these bilateral series, even if Pakistan don't win. These games are merely warm-ups for the big ICC events. Which, admittedly, Pakistan also don't win. But didn't you see how many debutants Pakistan experimented with? Why, there were more caps than a tailor's window this series!

And anyway, look over there! The PSL is about to start. Isn't it bigger and better than ever before? Didn't you say all you wanted from Pakistan cricket was to see eight teams rather than six, 44 matches rather than 34? This changes everything. Stadiums have been rebuilt in Lahore, renovated in Karachi, inaugurated in Faisalabad and renamed in Peshawar. They will play at all of them. Rawalpindi Stadium will even get flatmates, with the Pindiz and United sharing accommodation. Property prices really are too wild in Islamabad to permit for the luxury of individual home ownership.

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There will presently come along some 17-year-old batter who will blast his way to the fastest-ever PSL half-century in Faisalabad. Chances are he will play for Islamabad United, because, some things never quite change. If only he had been selected for the recent T20 World Cup! Pakistan, you see, has a lot of talent. This is something you must keep repeating, ideally with no longer a pause than it takes to inhale, lest healthy scepticism corrupt your mind. "Pakistan has a lot of talent!"

And lots of series will follow the PSL. But this time, it will allow you to while away the entirety of your day rather than a mere evening, because they will play 100 overs. You see, the ODI World Cup is upon us. Well, not upon us, but 18 months will go by quickly, won't they? There are bilateral series to be hastily converted into triangular tournaments for some reason you don't fully understand.

There are new names from the Plunket Shield and the Ford Trophy to memorise because, let's face it, Pakistan will probably play New Zealand a lot, and there's little chance they are bringing their full-strength team each time. It will give you an opportunity to say you knew of the next Cole McConchie before fans from any other nation. It could be whichever 33-year-old Kiwi puts in a sudden match-winning performance in a World Cup semi-final next year, of course.

Pakistan will probably win most of those series. That 17-year-old will be given a run out in a few of them, and may struggle to make an impact. Some stories about problems with his attitude will lead to a sharp turn in his public reputation, and you will learn in forensic detail how much money he is making and how ungrateful he is for it all.

Why don't Pakistan pick their tried and tested senior players, even if they are currently out of the side because they were tried, and tested? After all, everyone knows the best player in any Pakistan line-up is the one who hasn't played the most recent series, because of course he would have scored all those runs that he never seemed to accumulate while the trying and the testing was actually going on.

By now, the ODI World Cup will be bearing down upon us. It will be hard to see how Pakistan are not contenders, what with them probably being reigning champions of the HBL, Inverex, Allieds Bank and Oye Hoye Trophies, as well as holders of multiple Jazz Cash awards. Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, by now in his second term, will be confident, and stronger than ever. Why, in a meritocracy like Pakistan, would he be so strong if it weren't a reflection of the strength of the team he was building?

Not that anyone else will stay in situ. Few Pakistan coaches survive a poor ICC tournament, and Mike Hesson is on thin ice for that reason. Pakistan's selection committee appears to change every time you refresh that page on the PCB website, and you'll find more captains in the current unit than in a military parade.

Besides, odds are Pakistan have torn up their side from the past 18 months. The best way to prepare for a World Cup is to bring back all the players you spent that time gently easing out. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, after spending stints away, will surely be back in the middle order, while Shaheen Shah Afridi, likely having lost his captaincy and his place, will have sneaked in at the last minute. Another player who scored a half-century or took four wickets in the one game that happened to take place 24 hours before the squad cut-off deadline will also be back. It's all fine. It's a smart investment in a future scapegoat.

Pakistan will be expected to start strongly, brushing aside non-contenders. Then they will take on India, which, well, will make everyone in cricket very happy and very rich. Except any players the PCB decides to fine, of course. As the group begins to complicate itself, and Excel sheets across Pakistan are stressed by the sheer weight of the improbability they will be forced to reckon with to spit out a Pakistan qualification scenario, Pakistan will make a heroic last stand.

It will probably end before the semi-finals; after all, that's where each of their last four tournaments have terminated. Indeed, there has only been one ODI World Cup this century that counted Pakistan among its semi-finalists - the same number as Kenya, by the way. To ask for so much borders on avarice.

But no reason to worry. There will be a bilateral series in a few weeks. And shall we tell you about this fresh 18-year-old who will be perfect for the upcoming 2028 T20 World Cup?

Danyal Rasool is ESPNcricinfo's Pakistan correspondent. @Danny61000

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