Series still finely balanced, says Latif
Former skipper believes visitors very much in it at 1-1 despite England’s emphatic win
Rashid believes Pakistan must come up with a plan to counteract Root’s influence after pointing him out as the main reason for England’s big win. PHOTO: AFP
KARACHI:
Pakistan might have lost the Old Trafford Test by 330 runs — their fourth biggest Test defeat in history in terms of runs — but former captain Rashid Latif believes the four-match series is still wide open at 1-1 with two more matches to go.
The visitors next play a side match against Worcestershire before taking on England at Edgbaston and the Oval.
“Pakistan are still right in the Test series at 1-1 and it could go either way in the next two Tests,” Latif told The Express Tribune. “Despite England winning by such a big margin, it remains a close series because Pakistan are quite capable of bouncing back.”
Skipper Misbahul Haq blamed the batsmen for coming up short on a batting-friendly pitch, but Latif believes the bowlers are more to blame, having conceded 762 runs and claiming just nine wickets in the entire match.
“More mistakes were made in the bowling department than the batting,” said Latif. “Our fast-bowlers were poor as they sprayed the ball everywhere instead of bowling in one channel like England did. That allowed the likes of Alastair Cook and Joe Root to score easily.”
Latif feels Root’s first-innings knock of 254 took the game away from Pakistan and the team must come up with a plan to tackle him.
He also asked the visitors to ring the changes for the side match against Worcestershire by bringing in right-arm seamers Imran Khan and Sohail Khan because the pace attack needs to be refreshed, with Azhar Ali opening the innings alongside Hafeez and middle-order batsman Iftikhar Ahmad coming in for Shan Masood.
“Iftikhar was selected because he can bowl some off-spin so I think the time is right to test him,” he said. “He should be adjusted in the middle-order while Azhar can open with Hafeez instead of Masood. It won’t be wise to field Sami Aslam right now as it is too early in his career and it might affect him adversely.”
Latif also backed Sohail to come good in English conditions. “I would go for Sohail because he is an attacking bowler even though he will leak runs,” said the former Pakistan skipper. “Pakistan need a bowler who can take wickets and Sohail can move it both ways and he also exploits reverse-swing well.”
Latif also suggested that veteran batsman Younus Khan needs to sort out his technique soon, asking him to not try and make too many changes to his game.
“Younus must realise that when you’re in the last phase of your career, you can’t experiment too much,” he said.
The team was also criticised by several former players for their poor showing, with legends such as Shoaib Akhtar, Hanif Mohammad, Ramiz Raja and Mohammad Yousuf all feeling the players must up their ante for the third match.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 27th, 2016.
Pakistan might have lost the Old Trafford Test by 330 runs — their fourth biggest Test defeat in history in terms of runs — but former captain Rashid Latif believes the four-match series is still wide open at 1-1 with two more matches to go.
The visitors next play a side match against Worcestershire before taking on England at Edgbaston and the Oval.
“Pakistan are still right in the Test series at 1-1 and it could go either way in the next two Tests,” Latif told The Express Tribune. “Despite England winning by such a big margin, it remains a close series because Pakistan are quite capable of bouncing back.”
Skipper Misbahul Haq blamed the batsmen for coming up short on a batting-friendly pitch, but Latif believes the bowlers are more to blame, having conceded 762 runs and claiming just nine wickets in the entire match.
“More mistakes were made in the bowling department than the batting,” said Latif. “Our fast-bowlers were poor as they sprayed the ball everywhere instead of bowling in one channel like England did. That allowed the likes of Alastair Cook and Joe Root to score easily.”
Latif feels Root’s first-innings knock of 254 took the game away from Pakistan and the team must come up with a plan to tackle him.
He also asked the visitors to ring the changes for the side match against Worcestershire by bringing in right-arm seamers Imran Khan and Sohail Khan because the pace attack needs to be refreshed, with Azhar Ali opening the innings alongside Hafeez and middle-order batsman Iftikhar Ahmad coming in for Shan Masood.
“Iftikhar was selected because he can bowl some off-spin so I think the time is right to test him,” he said. “He should be adjusted in the middle-order while Azhar can open with Hafeez instead of Masood. It won’t be wise to field Sami Aslam right now as it is too early in his career and it might affect him adversely.”
Latif also backed Sohail to come good in English conditions. “I would go for Sohail because he is an attacking bowler even though he will leak runs,” said the former Pakistan skipper. “Pakistan need a bowler who can take wickets and Sohail can move it both ways and he also exploits reverse-swing well.”
Latif also suggested that veteran batsman Younus Khan needs to sort out his technique soon, asking him to not try and make too many changes to his game.
“Younus must realise that when you’re in the last phase of your career, you can’t experiment too much,” he said.
The team was also criticised by several former players for their poor showing, with legends such as Shoaib Akhtar, Hanif Mohammad, Ramiz Raja and Mohammad Yousuf all feeling the players must up their ante for the third match.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 27th, 2016.