Testing times ahead

Expectations from the national side in the first Test against South Africa will not be too high.

With Pakistan taking on the world’s top-ranked Test side South Africa in the first Test of the two-match series being held in the UAE, expectations from the national side will not be too high, given the inconsistent performances of the team in recent times and the fact that Pakistan’s opponents have been in supreme form in the Test arena. The last time the two teams met earlier in the year, in South Africa, Pakistan received a resounding thrashing, with their batsmen giving a pitiable account of their technique and temperament against arguably the best pace attack in the world. However, there is some hope of Pakistan producing relatively better results this time around, given that the conditions in the UAE will be very different from the ones faced by the national team in South Africa. There the Pakistani batsmen were done in by the pace and bounce of the pitches, and conditions that were highly conducive to swing and seam, which will not be the case in the UAE, where the tracks are likely to suit the Pakistani spinners more.

However, it must be noted that South Africa became the world’s number one Test side on the back of superb performances produced all over the world and not just in their own conditions. The likes of captain Graeme Smith, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn are proven match-winners and will be tough to counter in all kinds of conditions. Pakistan will still have to produce something special to upset the Proteas. Batting has proved to be the weakest link for the national team for a long time now, even in conditions conducive to batting and against weak bowling attacks, a case in point being the embarrassing defeat at the hands of Zimbabwe recently. Therefore, Misbahul Haq’s men will have to make sure that they pull up their socks as far as the batting is concerned, as however brilliantly the bowlers perform, all their efforts will amount to nothing if they are not supported ably by the batsmen.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2013.

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