A disappointing loss

The manner of defeat that Pakistan suffered at the hands of South Africa in the second Test at Cape Town, while highly disappointing, was at the end of the day, hardly surprising. The four-wicket defeat, which also gave the Proteas an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series after having won the first Test by 211 runs, highlighted Pakistan’s traditional weaknesses — a brittle batting line-up, prone to regular batting collapses against high-class pace bowling. Add to this the fact that Pakistan took the field with only one match-winning bowler i.e., Saeed Ajmal, exposing the weak bench strength of the bowling attack, left depleted after fast-bowler Junaid Khan withdrew due to injury.

Starting the fourth day of the Test in a competitive position and hoping to give the hosts a challenging target to chase, the visitors were left ruing a now familiar batting collapse that saw them lose their last six wickets for just 22 runs. After having led Pakistan to some famous Test wins — mostly in Asia — captain Misbahul Haq will now be left in no doubt about the true strength of his wards in challenging conditions against a top-class team. This is not to say that Pakistan did not have their moments in the Cape Town Test. Having suffered a crushing defeat in the first Test, which also saw the side being bundled out for a paltry 49, Pakistan seemed to have recovered from that blow courtesy centuries from Younus Khan and Asad Shafiq. What their resilience could not hide, however, was the inability of the rest of the batsmen to combat the new ball and the pace and guile of Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander.

While Ajmal lived up to his reputation, bagging a 10-wicket haul, his brilliance could not compensate for the pedestrian display of the fast-bowlers. With the third Test starting on February 22, it is important that Pakistan quickly regroup. The team clearly lacks the mental toughness to combat top-class bowling and the ability to ram in on any advantage that it is able to wrest from the opposition, aspects that need to be improved upon.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 19^th, 2013.