South Africa may have travelled and quarantined before playing the two Test and three T20Is against Pakistan, however, it should be noted that the visitors won’t be easy to beat for the hosts.
Here are the three reasons hosts Pakistan will find it difficult to beat South Africa, even with the home advantage.
1. No mental fatigue for SA
In the current ‘bio-secure bubble’ environment where most of the cricket is happening, mental wellness of players has been one of the major talking points. Pakistan travelled to New Zealand and found themselves out of confidence and form due to 14-day isolation in a mediocre facility.
However, South Africa didn’t have to put up with isolation combined with under-par living conditions in Pakistan as they have been granted the status of state’s guest and are enjoying lavish facilities in the country.
So to think that South Africa will falter like Pakistan failed in New Zealand due to bad mental health condition can be considered a wrong hypothesis.
2. Uncapped players
While Pakistan would be confident that they have picked the best players from domestic cricket to represent them in the Tests against South Africa, they would be unsure about what playing XI they should field.
In the last series, Pakistan didn’t experiment much with their the final XIs that they fielded against New Zealand, however for the first South Africa Tests, half of those players aren’t a part of the squad even.
This has put captain Babar Azam in a tight spot. While he was unable to play any cricket in New Zealand, he would be asked to perform individually and then also extract a winning miracle from the 17 players given to him to choose from.
Another important thing to notice is that this year’s prolific scorer in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Kamran Ghulam has been asked to sit out of the first Test, which puts a question mark on the selectors. If his form was so ominous that he pushed the usual suspects out, why wasn’t he preferred over someone for the final 17 too?
3. Lack of confidence
Playing at home can be a great advantage for cricketing sides, but the absence of fans and the energy they bring into the ground with them will be dearly missed by Pakistan.
Pakistan will be playing South Africa after facing two humiliating defeats against New Zealand on their most recent tour. While there were a few positives which came out of the two Tests, Pakistan were still found lacking in nearly every department.
The team management, including head coach Misbahul Haq hid behind the absence of Babar as an excuse for the defeats, but they would know clearly that it was many other things which were also the reason for their dismal performance.
So, in the current setup, Pakistan would need a confidence boost in order to make this home series a memorable one by beating South Africa, but all that confidence would come if they start the series on a winning note.
This pressure of winning in Karachi can be shattering for Pakistan’s confidence; however, if they can fight the early demons, there is no question that the hosts have the ability to upstage the visitors at National Stadium and then in Rawlapindi, and in Lahore too for T20Is.
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