What is behind our cricketers’ erratic performance?

There were many explanations for Pakistan's sorry plight in Sri Lanka where Younis Khan's men became the first visitors from their country to suffer a Test series defeat on Tuesday.

"You can expect anything from Pakistan. They are so unpredictable," the experts kept telling you as the Pakistanis lost wicket after wickets on the third day of their second Test in Colombo to finally lose the match by seven wickets.

Unpredictability alone, however, cannot explain why Pakistan could throw away nine wickets for a mere 35 runs after having dominated the same Sri Lankan attack for almost two preceding sessions and at times plundered it for runs, almost at will.

It cannot explain why a rookie, on Test debut, could master both the pacers and slow bowlers to muster up 168 with an enviable ease, while most of his more experienced and illustrious team-mates couldn't even reach the double figures. Neither Younis Khan's explanation that his team has gone through three horrific batting collapses in four innings because it lacks Test exposure.

There has to be much more to it than just the shortage of Test practice why in the first two Tests of the series against Sri Lanka, three of the team's senior batters have managed a combined score of just 198 runs.

Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal - three of the key players in the batting-line have almost completely flopped in the series. Take a look at Misbah's stats. The 35-year-old has scored 779 runs from 14 Tests at an average of 37.09. But in the last two Tests, he has just scored 66 runs at 16.50. He started off well in Galle with a 56 in the first innings, but has since fell for 7, 0 and 3.

Shoaib Malik, who relinquished captaincy to Younis earlier this year, has fared little better. He has scored 83 at 27.66, which is lower than his career average of 35.73 from 25 Tests (1215 runs). Malik was one of the most prolific run-getters, when Pakistan toured Sri Lanka in 2006.

Kamran Akmal has been the worst, just 29 runs from four outings, in the current series at 12.25. The wicketkeeper-batsman has a much better career record, having accumulated 2151 runs from 42 Tests at 33.09.

The trio's below-par showing has added fuel to conspiracy theories, which suggest that even a morale-boosting triumph in the World Twenty20 championship in England last month has failed to unite the team, which many believe stays bitterly divided.

Former Pakistan Test pacer Sarfraz Nawaz is convinced that there are 'groupings' within the team with senior players like Malik and Misbah unwilling to give their best under Younis. Inzamam-ul-Haq has raised similar fears. The former Pakistan captain also believes that Younis is doing little to erase this menace.

Even if such theories are off the mark, Pakistan cricket's think-tank has to find solutions for the team's perennial problem - inconsistency.