Talented Pakistan Were Negated By Conservatism And Flat Pitches In Home Loss To Australia

At least the the final day of this historic series was relatively gripping. It was a slog and unwatchable at times – footage of the fifth day in Rawalpindi have surely been erased by authorities – as a prolonged stalemate ensued between Australia and Pakistan in the first series between the teams in Pakistan since 1998.

Fortunately, just in the nick of time, Australia ended the deadlock and ensure this much-hyped contest avoided the infamy of being the first 0-0 three-match Test series in almost a decade.

Wearing down Pakistan, Australia found inspiration from maligned spinner Nathan Lyon who answered his critics with a five-wicket haul while captain Pat Cummins predictably turned the match around as the tourists won by 115 runs to achieve the same famous series score line Mark Taylor’s team achieved 24 years ago.

To get things moving, they needed some help. And it came controversially through an overturned decision on veteran batter Azhar Ali, who was the player who could have stonewalled Australia through the final day. He probably deserved the benefit of the doubt with replays showing only the faintest edge off an attempted reverse sweep off Lyon and a fuming Azhar – dour usually – trudged off in disappointment in his first Test at home in his 94th match.

Pakistan’s penchant for being cricket’s most mercurial team resurfaced when Mohammad Rizwan, who had stunningly defied Australia on the final day in Karachi with a ton, in a brain fade did not review even though replays confirmed Cummins’ searing yorker hit him well outside the line of off stump.

Pakistan lost five wickets in the final session to fall short of their bid of defying Australia for the second straight Test but it would have been a heist had they staved off defeat.

They were generally outplayed in the series and paid the price for conjuring stale pitches in a bid to grind Australia into the ground amid scorching hot conditions. Since their last series win in Asia in 2011, Australia have repeatedly been mentally and physically broken in alien conditions compared to faster pitches back home.

Under impressive new skipper Cummins, Australia proved much more resilient this time around and were intent on playing the long haul but – importantly – capitalized with the ball when conditions favored reverse swing.

Pakistan paid the price for a conservative approach, which was a great shame given their wealth of young talent. Flat pitches were hoped to counter Australia’s brilliant seamers but the stale conditions also negated Pakistan’s young guns Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah who occasionally lit a fuse under the series but were too often muzzled by the slow surfaces.

After being exiled from playing home following a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009, it has been heartwarming to see cricket slowly return to Pakistan since 2015 culminating in Australia’s tour – the first of the so-called ‘Big Three’ countries to visit Pakistan.

This historic contest deserved much more, especially for the rabid local fans of which many were too young or not alive when Australia last toured their country. The atmosphere was always electric even though the series-finale was unfortunately played during the working week underlining cricket’s increasingly cramped schedule.

There was genuine goodwill between the teams as Australia’s infamous boorish behavior has been eroded since the Sandpaper scandal and given further refining under the affable Cummins.

Pakistan also regretted several strange selections – notably lengthening their tail in the third Test with the exclusion of allrounder Faheem Ashraf proving costly.

Captain Babar Azam too often went into defensive mode early to only ease the pressure on Australia’s batters who dominated the series even though only Pakistan born opener Usman Khawaja really played to his potential.

Pakistan’s fielding gradually deteriorated and they suffered two horrendous first innings collapses that were more reminiscent of implosions they suffered in the past on livelier decks in Australia. It was a case of Pakistan being Pakistan.

But this young team clearly has a lot of promise and are fairly stacked across the board. With a more positive approach and playing to their strengths, there is no reason why Babar’s team can’t be a force in Test cricket.

First things first though. Babar needs to throw his weight around and demand more suitable home pitches otherwise Pakistan will start moulding into the turgid team that finished this mostly dreary series.