Pakistan hand Australia harrowing series loss

Misbah’s men vanquish Aussies in a series full of record-breaking performances

KARACHI:

So it turns out that lambs were indeed led to the slaughter in the two match Pakistan-Australia Test series. But contrary to the beliefs of commentators, pundits and a host of former players—the lambs turned out to be the touring Aussies—the rookie Pakistan line-up that took the field for the first Test with a combined wicket tally lesser than Australian captain Michael Clarke’s part-time left-arm spin has yielded, bamboozled the opposition with clinical efficiency. 

The Australians have never faced the kind of humiliation Misbahul Haq’s men heaped on them in 137 years of Test cricket. Statistically, the series result and the abject surrender is a nightmare for arguably the finest and the most consistent cricket playing nation in history.

In terms of average differential—batting average minus bowling average, the result is the most harrowing in Australia’s 210-Test series to date.

Only a couple of weeks ago, the Australians clad in yellow had comfortably defeated their rivals in green in the first three limited over matches, before recording a sensational one wicket win in the final ODI at Abu Dhabi. The visitors had won all four games – one T20 and three ODIs – and no one gave Pakistan a chance to prosper in the Tests.

And who can blame the critics? The hosts didn’t have in their ranks even one of their frontline longest format bowlers. After Saeed Ajmal’s suspension, Wahab Riaz and Junaid Khan dropped out due to injuries while Abdul Rehman’s and Mohammad Talha’s average returns in Sri Lanka forced the selectors and management to exclude the pair from the playing eleven.

The troubles off the field were reflected in the first half an hour of the Test series too. The onus of a comeback was on another disgruntled man who had thrashed the decision-makers, including Misbah, Moin Khan and Waqar Younis, for dropping him from the ODI squad.

But in a display of stoic determination and exemplary calm, Younus Khan churned out a hundred for the purists. Khan’s contribution was the tonic that the rest of the squad needed, Sarfraz Ahmed cashed in on the sagging spirits of the otherwise ruthless Australians, scoring an 80-ball century.

Pakistan didn’t look back for even a brief moment from there. Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah aided by workmanlike pacers Imran Khan and Rahat Ali, sliced through the opposition twice to fashion out a commanding win in Dubai after Younus and Ahmed Shehzad struck sparkling centuries in the second innings.

Clarke was worried about the loss in Dubai, however he claimed that his team would bounce back hard and pounce on the opposition in Abu Dhabi.

The mercurial nature of Misbah’s team worried the Pakistan cricket follower. The question on everyone’s mind was, is the Dubai result an aberration only, and how hard will the Aussies hit back? But the doubts disappeared faster than they appeared in Abu Dhabi. The domination of Clarke’s men was now complete.

Younus was batting like a man possessed, he found great company in the shape of the gritty Azhar Ali and his resilience rubbed off on the other elderly statesman in the team—Misbah.

Pakistan piled on 570 and with-in a few hours rummaged through their rival batting line-up for a measly 261 runs. Misbah didn’t force the follow-on. No one could predict the Pakistan captain had his own script in mind at that juncture.

After the provision of another solid platform through Younus and Azhar, Misbah came out to play with an uncluttered mind arguably for the first time in his international career. Fifty-six balls of electrifying batting gave Misbah a share of the world record for the fastest hundred in Test cricket, the share of spoils with none other than the greatest batsman of his generation, the incomparable Sir Vivian Richards.

Misbah’s feat spurred on his spin twins again; the Aussies were bundled out in the second session on the final day of the match and Pakistan had recorded a truly thumping 346-run win. After 20 long years, a Test series win against the once mighty Australians has been recorded, the joy doesn’t end here since the 2-0 series whitewash is Pakistan’s first against the Aussies for 32 years.

Misbah’s team has also blown away the confidence of Clarke. Before the Test series it was Misbah who was gravely concerned about his batting form, but after the series Clarke is worried about his own batting returns. ‘My batting is unacceptable as captain and leader of this team’. The Aussies have been well and truly conquered, well done Misbah and well done Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 4^th, 2014.