Pakistan cricket: What has gone wrong in 2024?

It’s not just personnel. Team morale feels at an all-time low.

Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi are, on their day, the best batter and bowler in the world respectively.

But their best days have been absent for a very long time. England fans will visualise Shaheen as the man who bowls upwards of 90 miles per hour, the bowler who took four wickets in four balls in the T20 Blast and two in two with his very first deliveries in The Hundred.

It feels like a hundred years ago. His pace has dropped considerably, as has his threat and his stock. To the point he isn’t even guaranteed to be in the starting line-up for every Test.

Since Babar Azam’s century against New Zealand in December 2022, he has failed to pass 50 runs in 15 Test innings.

Perhaps more significant is the drop in his aura among fans home and away. There is still a lot of passionate support, but there are now warring tribes – those who love him and those who don’t want to invest in him again.

This hasn’t been helped by the captaincy debacle. After a poor 50-over World Cup in India, Babar was replaced as captain by Shaheen Afridi in white-ball cricket and Shan Masood in Tests.

The former’s run lasted just five matches, a 4-1 loss away to New Zealand, after which a change in chairman resulted in the captaincy reverting back to Babar. One can only imagine what this did for Shaheen’s morale, never mind the understandable friction created between the team’s two heavyweights.

A curiously-timed white-ball captaincy resignation from Babar just adds to the chaos. Social media is filled with opportunistic journalists and fans trying to create a Drake/Kendrick Lamar style feud out of this scenario. Is it any wonder both have been a long way short of their best this year?

Also, spare a thought for Masood. Going into the England series, his Test captaincy record is played five, lost five – a tally that could well grow worse after a difficult England series.

Yet the PCB board seem unconcerned about the potential catastrophes that loom. Test cricket seems a low priority.

They seem to be more interested in renovating their stadia for the Champions Trophy – a tournament they’re still far from certain, external to host early next year.

The decision to renovate Karachi, Rawalpindi and Lahore simultaneously, knowing you’re scheduled to host other series is, in the politest sense, bizarre.

This planning resulted in the itinerary for the England Test series being delayed and reorganised, leaving touring fans frustrated, even angry. Understandably so.