Pakistan improving home record away from home
Since their first Test series in 2010 — 18 months after the attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore that signalled an end to international cricket in the country — Pakistan is yet to lose a ‘home’ Test series.
Out of a total of 16 Tests for Misbahul Haq and his men — he has captained the team in all of their games at the UAE — Pakistan have won eight and drawn six.
Only two teams, South Africa and Sri Lanka, have emerged victorious from the UAE. However, both series ended in draws, with Pakistan also winning a Test in each to ensure that their unbeaten record remained intact.
The two are also the only teams to have played Pakistan more than once in the UAE since 2010.
England and Australia have visited once each; entering the series as clear favourites, leaving it whitewashed.
England, ranked number one in the world at the time, lost 3-0 in 2012 and Australia, on the back of a 3-0 ODI win, lost 2-0 as the hosts broke one record after the other.
Not missing home
On the other hand, back when Pakistan was home to international cricket, in a period of 12 years between 1995 and 2007, the side lost home Test series to all but Bangladesh, the West Indies and the New Zealand who drew the 96 series and played only a single Test in the abandoned 2001 tour.
Like most Test-playing nations, Pakistan enjoyed a great run at home in their heyday; during the 80s and early 90s. But things started to go awry when Sri Lanka arrived for a three-match series in 1995.
Under Rameez Raja’s captaincy, the hosts lost 2-1 to one of the worst Test playing nations at the time. The nation was stunned, but much worse was to follow.
Two years later, South Africa pulled off a sensational heist at Faisalabad in their maiden Test tour of Pakistan to win the three-match series 1-0.
Australia were the next to conquer Pakistan in 1998; defeating the hosts by an innings in Rawalpindi en-route to a 1-0 series win.
The biggest shock, however, was still in store. A Heath Streak and Henry Olonga inspired Zimbabwe defeated the hosts on a green Peshawar pitch a few days after the Australian series. Bad weather affected the next two matches and Pakistan never got a chance to even the score.
Sri Lanka then won another three-match series at the turn of the century, before England, under the able leadership of Nasser Hussain, won at the National Stadium of Karachi and claim the series 1-0 later in the year.
Nearly four years later in 2004, it was arch-rivals India who defeated Pakistan at home; perhaps the hardest defeats of them all to swallow for the supporters.
After recording their first ever away Test win against Pakistan in Multan, Sourav Ganguly’s men won again at Rawalpindi as the series eventually finished 2-1 in favour of the visitors.
South Africa then further improved their record in Pakistan as a solitary win was enough to see them take the spoils in a two-match series in 2007.
Pakistan didn’t play a single Test in 2008, before taking on the Sri Lankans in the ill-fated 2009 series; unfortunately the last on home soil.
Throughout the 90s and the early years of the new millennium, Pakistan suffered at home despite fielding arguably some of the most talented teams in their history.
Curators across the country prepared custom-made wickets on the orders of various captains yet that never seemed enough.
Despite being laden with talent, those teams were plagued with backroom politics, mismanagement, numerous fixing scandals and a lack of team unity. All those demons have since been seemingly expelled.
Ironic as it may seem, the UAE has helped Pakistan regain the ‘home advantage’, at least in the last five years. Misbah has proved to be a calming influence on his players and his conservative approach has worked wonders in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.
New Zealand are the latest to arrive in a bid to defeat the hosts but on the evidence of Pakistan’s form and the first day of the series, the Kiwis have little hope of doing what better teams have failed to and defeat Pakistan in the UAE.
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