Series played in 45C weather carries huge importance for World Cup qualification
\nNews Desk
\nIslamabad
\nIt\u2019s 326 BC. The Internet hasn\u2019t been invented. The first Test match is yet to be played. We\u2019re talking about a time well before even the first Shahid Afridi retirement announcement.
\nA time when incursions of any kind are dictated as much by the weather as any other tactical considerations; launching one in the winter\u2013with defence against the cold virtually non-existent\u2013is perhaps the most unforgivable blunder one could commit.
\nEven 2,000 years later, two of the most famously disastrous military debacles\u2013Napoleon\u2019s invasion of Russia and Nazi Germany\u2019s in the Soviet Union\u2013will largely by done in by the extreme cold.
\nAnd yet, when Alexander was plotting a move against the Mallians in what is now widely considered to be Multan, he ruled out waiting till the summer months.
\nHe picked instead the miserably wet winter months to launch his campaign, catching the inhabitants by surprise. The citadel was besieged, and by February, the city had fallen, before winter was forced to begin its annual eight month retreat from South Punjab\u2019s most prominent city.
\n2,348 years later, it perhaps becomes clearer why the ancient Greek emperor preferred to give Multan a wide berth once the summer sun had set in.
\nAn incursion of a very different kind is upon us, with the West Indies cricket team to play Pakistan\u2019s in an ODI series carried over from last year and much has changed in one of the cities most redolent of the subcontinent\u2019s uniquely storied history.
\nIt is now a bustling modern metropolis, a hub of commercial and economic activity with state-of-the-art infrastructure. Little has changed in one aspect, though; there remains virtually no defence against the oppressive heat.
\nThe temperature on each of the days the three ODIs are due to be played will regularly exceed 45C, forcing the games to begin well into the evening, likely finishing after midnight.
\nMultan was by no means Pakistan\u2019s first choice as host at this time of year, with the slightly cooler Rawalpindi originally slated to host the games.
\nBut political uncertainty forced a change of venue, and with Lahore and Karachi\u2019s surfaces being relaid, the Pakistan Cricket Board had little choice but to move a series being held at the hottest time of the year to the hottest city with an international cricket ground.
\nHowever, this isn\u2019t the first time a series is being held in uncomfortably hot weather, and with empty spaces in the calendar shrinking ever further, it certainly won\u2019t be the last. Indeed, the PSL last year famously took place in Abu Dhabi in June and July, and the BBL and IPL are regularly held at times when dry heat in a number of host cities is high.
\nAdd to that the fact this series was a victim of Covid-induced havoc the previous winter, and originally scheduled for December.
\nPakistan have made preparations to combat the heat, holding training camps in advance to ensure they\u2019re as acclimatised as they possibly can be.
\nThere are, after all, Super League points at stake, and Pakistan, with only six wins out of 12 this cycle, will need to push themselves further up the table if they are to avoid the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe.
\nBabar Azam\u2019s men are fresh off an impressive come-from-behind series win over Australia at home, and will field a largely full-strength side.
\nThey should be firm favourites against an opposition that, until their 3-0 series win in the Netherlands last week, hadn\u2019t won an away ODI series for more than a decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Series played in 45C weather carries huge importance for World Cup qualification News Desk Islamabad It\u2019s 326 BC. The Internet hasn\u2019t been invented. The first Test match is yet to be played. We\u2019re talking about a time well before even the first Shahid Afridi retirement announcement. A time when incursions of any kind are dictated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265054,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4022,3450,20,1161],"class_list":{"0":"post-265031","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-battle","9":"tag-multan","10":"tag-pakistan","11":"tag-west-indies"},"yoast_head":"\n