Pakistan met 2018 with a familiar fickleness

Victories from adverse situations, defeats at venues where they were deemed to be hot-favourites, controversies about disputes over team selection and game tactics between the captain and the head coach. And, calls for the former to step down - 2018 was just a regular year in Pakistan cricket.

The initial weeks perfectly mirrored how the year would turn out to be for Pakistan. On their tour of New Zealand in January, Pakistan were thrashed 5-0 in ODIs before they staged an epic comeback on the New Zealand tour to cap it off with a T20I series win.

Pakistan's poor run in the 50-over format - which has been an integral feature of ODI cricket this decade - stretched throughout the year. They were favourites to win the Asia Cup in September as it was held in the UAE, where Pakistan have been playing their cricket since the turn of this decade. However, brittle batting coupled with Sarfraz Ahmed's questionable tactics saw them getting knocked out of the tournament in group-stages. They lost nine and won eight. The breakdown of their wins is as follows: five against Zimbabwe, one each against Hong Kong, Afghanistan, and New Zealand.

In the shortest format, they won 17 and lost only two which kept them at the top of the ICC rankings for T20I teams. They won series against New Zealand twice (the second time a whitewash), a rather depleted West Indies, Scotland, a triangular series against Zimbabwe and Australia before staging a clean-sweep against Aaron Finch's men in the UAE.

Their fortunes, however, oscillated in red-ball cricket. Their year in Test cricket got off on a high as they beat Ireland away and leveled a two-match series 1-1 against England in England. But, at home, their hapless run continued. The Dubai Test against Australia - the first Test of Pakistan's home season - should've been won by the hosts, but Usman Khawaja's defiant knock ended it in a draw. They won the second Test of the two-match series to register their first series win in the UAE under Sarfraz. But, again, poor batsmanship and perplexing on-field tactics saw them lose to New Zealand 1-2, which was their second home series loss in approximately a year.

At home, a new chairman, Ehsan Mani, took the office due to tensions between Imran Khan, their new Prime Minister, and Najam Sethi, Mani's predecessor. The pitches - due to poor quality - in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and scheduling blunders of domestic tournaments attracted criticism.

What went right: International cricket returned to Karachi after nine-long-years. After the successful staging of the final of the third edition of the Pakistan Super League in the city, Windies toured the city for a three-match series. Karachi also hosted group-B matches of the recent Emerging Asia Cup tournament.

This does promise to go down as a significant development in the recent history of the country's cricket as now, as many as eight PSL matches are to be hosted across Lahore, which hosted two PSL matches this year, and Karachi.

Though New Zealand turned down the offer of visiting Pakistan for a couple of games during the series in the UAE as this is being penned, the PCB is in talks with Cricket Australia to host them in Pakistan for a few ODIs.

What went wrong: The Asia Cup and the legal battle against the BCCI.

On-field first - Pakistan were deemed to be hot-favourites to win the 50-over Asia Cup in September as they were the side most familiar with the venues. But, from the moment they sat to jot down a squad for the tournament, they panicked. They selected as many as six pacers for a tournament to be played on spinning tracks which saw them suffer while drawing down playing XIs. Their batting remained poor. And, that coupled with Sarfraz Ahmed's defensive field-sets saw Pakistan lose to India twice in two matches during the tournament. Their loss to Bangladesh in the second round of the group-stages saw them out of the tournament.

Off the field, they lost a legal battle to the BCCI as an ICC dispute resolution committee rejected their claims of USD 70million against their Indian counterparts for failing to honour a bilateral series agreement. Pakistan not only lost the case, initiated by the previous administration, but now has to pay BCCI 60 percent of the expenditures it had bore to fight the case.

Top performer: Babar Azam. Who else?

2018 was certainly a year when Azam burst onto the scene as a complete batsman. He scored runs in T20Is and Tests with consistency with a decent run in ODIs.

The 24-year-old sat comfortably at the top of the ICC rankings for batsmen in T20Is as he averaged 62.55 - the best amongst the batsmen to have scored more than 300 runs this year.

On the first day of the Boxing Day Test, he dislodged Kane Williamson to secure the top-spot in the list of the batsmen, to have scored over 500 runs, with the best batting average in 2018 after scoring a fantastic 71 off 79 against South Africa at Centurion. This was his sixth fifty-plus score of the year, including a 99 against Australia in the UAE. His maiden century in whites at the apex level had also come in this year.

At the time of writing this, Azam sat at number five in the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen. He averaged 36 throughout the year and scored fifties against Afghanistan and New Zealand, which was a 92, and a hundred against Zimbabwe.

Honourable mention: Shaheen Shah Afridi

The 18-year-old had some start to his international career. After an impressive PSL, he made Pakistan debut in T20I series against the Windies in Karachi. He was handed ODI debut in Asia Cup against Afghanistan in which he returned an impressive 2 for 38 in 10 overs despite four catches getting dropped off his bowling.

He picked up nine wickets against New Zealand in a three ODIs and was duly awarded Man of the Series award. That performance saw him making a Test debut against the Kiwis after Mohammad Abbas injured his bowling shoulder.

Biggest disappointment: Has to be Mohammad Amir, due to his ODI record

Pakistan's most-trusted pacer had to be sent back to domestic circuit to find his rhythm after the Asia Cup as his deplorable form with the ball in ODIs saw him pick up just three wickets in 10 matches at an average of over 100. He picked up 14 wickets in Tests and T20Is at averages of 17.64 and 15.50.

What 2019 has in store?

With the World Cup this year, it is going to be an absorbing year in Pakistan cricket. Controversies will stem from the squad selection for the mega event. Team lineups will be interesting. All this with Pakistan's mercurial nature making the world stop and take notice.

There are calls for removal of Sarfraz from Test captaincy at home - the voices include chairman of the cricket committee, Mohsin Khan. The board is contemplating removing departments (service organisations) from domestic cricket which is already attracting criticism from the cricketing circles. The process of top-flight cricket's gradual return to the country will continue with eight PSL matches to be played in Pakistan in March.

Just like this year, 2019 will be an interesting, yet, a regular year, considering the fickle state of affairs, in Pakistan cricket.