An abject capitulation

The euphoria of Lord’s didn’t last long as Pakistan crashed to a woeful 330-run defeat in the second Test at Old Trafford against England. For the umpteenth time in recent years, an away tour has exposed the fragility of the Pakistan batting with the top-order caving in to the seam, swing and bounce of English pitches. While the bowlers made the most of, at best, par scores at Lord’s, their failure in the English first innings rubbed off onto the batsmen who crumbled in a heap in both innings. England batsmen Alastair Cook and Joe Root combined for a total of 506 runs with only two dismissals in the Test while the 20 Pakistan wickets in the two innings posted only 432 runs between them. England’s batting showed that the pitch did not have any demons in it, but as soon as the Pakistanis turned up with the bats in hand, it started resembling a minefield. The top-order quartet of Mohammad Hafeez, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali and Younus Khan have had two forgettable Tests now and their lack of runs are making the task a most arduous one for the middle and lower order. Only captain Misbahul Haq and Asad Shafiq have tried to withstand the English bowlers’ onslaught but they came nowhere close to matching the class of Cook and Root at Old Trafford.

The bowling attack of Mohammad Amir, Rahat Ali, Wahab Riaz and Yasir Shah must have been scarred by the comfort with which the England batsmen toyed with them. Yasir, especially, took a fearful battering after his Lord’s heroics. The fielding, too, has been a cause of real concern with dropped catches being a regular feature. After the defeat, Misbah put on a brave face and claimed that his team had the ability to bounce back. One really hopes that his belief in his players is rewarded in the third Test; otherwise the series can turn into a woeful nightmare very quickly. Pakistan need to pull up their socks in quick time before the Birmingham Test kicks off next week.


Published in The Express Tribune, July 27^th, 2016.