Dubai: Observing India and Pakistan’s net sessions offers a revealing look into the distinct approaches of these cricketing rivals. The fundamental difference lies in their discipline and work ethic, areas where the Pakistan side noticeably falls short.
On a recent Tuesday at the ICC Cricket Academy in Dubai, both teams shared the same training facility, albeit at different times. However, it was the training processes themselves that vividly underscored the chasm between the two. India’s bus arrived a full 40 minutes before their scheduled 5:20 PM start. Their dedicated support staff, including side-arm throwers D Raghavendra, Nuwan Seneviratne, and Dayanand Garani, had already arrived even earlier, meticulously preparing the ground. The moment Gautam Gambhir’s squad stepped onto the field, they seamlessly transitioned into a well-oiled routine.
Conversely, Pakistan’s bus pulled up around 7:50 PM, just ten minutes before their session was meant to begin. As the UAE team wrapped up their nets and departed, the Pakistani players paused for casual banter, many having shared a cricketing past with the UAE cricketers back home. Another half-hour drifted by as the Pakistani team seemed unsure of how to proceed, eventually resorting to kicking a football around after captain Salman Ali Agha retrieved one from his kitbag.
Frankly, their performance with the football seemed as disjointed as their batting against India just days prior. Most of Pakistan’s batters appeared to be struggling, resembling amateur club players against the formidable Indian attack, especially against India’s spin trio of Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, and Axar Patel.
Following the much-discussed ‘handshake-gate’ incident, Pakistan coach Mike Hesson was pressed to defend his players’ struggles. “It’s more the accuracy and the pressure that they (Indian spinners) build. When you build up a lot of dot balls, sometimes your mind plays tricks and you play big shots. So it’s not that they can’t pick spin. It’s the fact we struggle to rotate strike and relieve pressure. That’s why dismissals happened in clusters,” Hesson explained.
Meanwhile, at the Indian nets on Tuesday, batter Tilak Varma, known for his challenges against spin and having looked vulnerable against Pakistan, was intensely facing Kuldeep and Varun. Coaches Gautam Gambhir and Sitanshu Kotak closely monitored his every move. After an exhausting 45-minute session, a visibly drained Tilak Varma, on his knees, was finally given leave from the nets.
In stark contrast, Pakistan’s promising young talent, Saim Ayub, was seen doing shadow practice with Hesson, isolated from the football-playing group. Adding to the organizational disparity, Kotak emerged from India’s dressing room with a blackboard, clearly outlining the day’s training plan. Pakistan’s session, however, remained an ad-hoc, trial-and-error affair.
Fakhar Zaman, who had been outfoxed by Axar Patel’s skillful bowling on Sunday, was practicing against Mohammad Nawaz, whom Hesson had once lauded as the world’s best spinner. Zaman was hitting Nawaz with ease in the nets, yet his struggles against the actual Axar on the field only emphasized the qualitative gap between the two left-arm spinners.
In this era, where every international team employs at least two side-arm throwers, Pakistan inexplicably has none. As one veteran Pakistani journalist aptly summarized the situation: “Hum abhi wahaan nahi pahunche hain (We haven’t reached that level yet).”
The intensive six-hour net marathon—three hours for each team—brings to mind Rohit Sharma’s witty response during the 2019 ODI World Cup. When asked for advice he’d offer Pakistan’s struggling batters, a smiling Rohit quipped, “Agar main Pakistan ka coach bana to bilkul bataunga, abhi kya bataunga (If I become Pakistan’s coach, I’ll surely tell them, but not now).”
Six years on, the disparity between Indian and Pakistani cricket has only widened, a reality painfully evident last Sunday when the much-hyped rivalry was decisively settled in the sands of Dubai.