Rebirth of hope for Team Green

Only a month ago, Pakistan cricketers were ‘welcomed’ with chants of ‘losers’ at the Lahore airport on their return from the tour of Zimbabwe.

Their defeat in a One-Day International and then the Harare Test reversal at the hands of the bottom-ranked side infuriated the cricket-frenzy nation.

Even the optimists slowly turned into pessimists and were gravely concerned about the future. The defeat at the hands of the minnows of the game, plagued with severe economic problems, was a tough pill to swallow for all concerned.

But on Thursday, the nation breathed a sigh of relief as, in the true Pakistan way, the national team bounced back to stun the top-ranked Test team in Abu Dhabi.

The morale-boosting win has raised a lot of hopes as the Emirates further enhanced its reputation of being the fortress of Pakistan cricket.

Many may downplay the win since the conditions favoured Misbahul Haq’s men at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, but the fact is that Pakistan made a mockery of South Africa captain Graeme Smith’s claims that his team was better prepared than England were last year.

The win in the first Test was the first one for the ‘hosts’ over South Africa in more than six years and seems to be a far more significant result than the 3-0 triumph against the Andrew Strauss-led England last year, the then top-ranked Test side.

The victory against the Proteas can be termed as a genuine teamwork, which is the need of the hour for a Pakistan side that is forever aiming for consistency.

Although spinners Saeed Ajmal and debutant Zulfiqar Babar went past the chunk of South Africa’s batting, the pacers also enjoyed substantial success with the lanky Mohammad Irfan and Junaid Khan sharing eight wickets between them.

On the batting front, Misbah’s rich vein of form is delightful and his persistence will remain vital.

However, the most convincing factor in the win was Pakistan’s opening pair – Khurram Manzoor and Shan Masood.

Many believe that the axing of Manzoor after his 77-run knock against Australia at Hobart in 2010 was grave injustice and the Karachi batsman did not let his supporters down by smashing his first Test century against arguably the most potent pace attack in the world.

The 24-year-old Masood also had a dream debut with a defiant 75-run knock that proved that his selection was a positive decision by the national selection committee.

Despite being uncertain about their future, the national selectors had the courage to defy the age-old practice of preferring experience over youth and gave the young opening pair a chance over seasoned contenders like Taufiq Umer, Imran Farhat and the out of sorts Mohammad Hafeez.

It will be premature to predict the top four teams for the 2017 ICC Test Championship at this stage, but with this memorable win Pakistan have once again proved that when they get their act together, they can topple the best in the business.

The writer is a reporter for the Sports Desk at The Express Tribune

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

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