Who could have predicted that Pakistan team would bat for two days after scoring less than 150 runs the first innings and make about 450 runs. Our tradition has been that if the batting fails miserably in the first innings, then a replay will be seen in the second innings also.
Especially when there is a good strong bowling opponent like Australia. Many years ago on the pitches of UAE, Pakistan made a very dismal record that in both innings of a Test, being bowled out for less than 100 runs and suffered the worst defeat.
We witnessed a miracle in the Karachi Test on Wednesday. The Pakistani batsmen played brilliantly, formed a great partnership and managed to save a Test match from certain defeat. I wouldn’t believe if I hadn’t seen the match on TV. Batters Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, who stay on the wicket keep playing for many hours and it becomes clear that this is their style.
A batsman like Babar Azam who has an excellent record in white ball cricket but did not perform as required in Tests, surprised everyone. It is not easy to score runs in the fourth innings of a Test match, usually the last innings is played on the last day when the wicket is relatively bad and the pressure is high.
Most of Inzamam-ul-Haq’s centuries came in the second innings of the national team. Who can forget the famous innings when it led Pakistan to victory against Australia with teammate Mushtaq Ahmed? Inzamam also won the match against Bangladesh, even though it was the fourth innings of the match.
I remember two more victories. In the fourth innings of the match against West Indies, Imran Khan had drawn the match after for several hours on the wicket with Tauseef Ahmed. By the way, Tauseef was also an excellent off=spinner playing on the eleventh position, supporting the team’s batting. He stood for three and a half hours on a very fast bouncy pitch in Australia and played with a straight bat in such a way that the captain was advising renowned batsmen to learn from Tauseef.
In another match in Sept 1990, Imran Khan along with left-arm spinner Masood Anwar saved the match. Masood Anwar played only one Test. A few weeks later the Pakistani team was going to India. If this tour had taken place, Masood Anwar would have definitely joined but the tour could not take place and Masood also did not get a chance to play Tests again.
Babar Azam scored a magnificent 196 runs on the wicket for several hours in the Karachi Test. It is being said that he has set many records in this innings. He is the first captain to score so many runs in the fourth innings of the match, a record previously held by Mike Atherton, who scored 185 runs. Babar’s greatest achievement is that he conveyed the team’s morale and spirit by playing a courageous and technically his best innings. In the Pindi Test, it seemed that the team was in a defensive mindset.
After the failure of the first innings in Karachi, there was a danger that the batting would be piled up for the second time and maybe even in Lahore. Babar changed everything. Young opener Abdullah Shafique impressed by playing a brilliant innings. Interestingly, in the PSL, Abdullah Shafique proved himself to be a T20 opener by batting aggressively as earlier he was considered unsuitable for this format. He made a T20 fifty in just 25 balls. Now, he scored a century in the Pindi Test
Mohammad Rizwan has not been able to score much in the Test format for some time now. In this match, he also saved the match and scored a magnificent century. Rizwan is a very hard working player who gives more than 100% to the team.
Babur as Test captain and Rizwan the vice-captain is an excellent combination. Some weaknesses were also observed. Imam-ul-Haq scored centuries in both the innings in the Pindi Test. He was not appreciated here because of the batting pitch. Imam got angry and made aggressive statements. Ironically, he failed miserably in both innings of the Karachi Test and thus embarrassed himself instead of responding to the critics.
Players should perform on the field instead of responding to the media. Fawad Alam failed in both the innings. In the second innings, he was regularly dismissed by the Australian bowlers. The weakness of his strange batting style came to the fore once again. Fawad has played a great game since his return to Test cricket. He has scored great centuries on various pitches, but the way he changes his batting position at the last minute, an intelligent bowler such as Australian captain Cummins could upset him
Faheem Ashraf also failed in batting both times, Faheem needs to work on his batting again. Another thing that was seen in both the tests was that some players were cornered. Being run out in Test matches is no less than a crime. Why run out when there is no shortage of time and no pressure to play fast? It is true that batsmen are told to rotate strikes, take singles, but not at the cost of wickets. Batting coaches should work on this, improving running between the wickets
Both captains made some mistakes. Babar made a mistake in the first innings of Australia when Usman Khawaja and Nathan Lyon were playing. The ball started to reverse swing, but Babar stopped the ball from Shaheen, Hassan Ali to the spinners. The reason was to get a new ball after ten or twelve overs.
Babar must have wanted the fast bowlers to be refreshed by then. He suffered a loss but later the new ball did not help. The same mistake was made by the Australian captain, the ball was likely to be reversed, but kept the spinners instead of the pacers. Waqar Younis was commenting, he pointed out two or three times. Who could be more expert in reverse swing than Waqar Younis? Pat Cummins made another mistake when Lyon dismissed Babar and Fahim on two consecutive balls.
Then there is Mitchell Starc, who has a reputation for destroying tail-enders. Cummins bowled just one over from Starc and brought in leg-spinner Swapson. This match proved to be very heavy for the young spinner who bowled four overs in the last innings and did not get a single wicket.
Cummins is also being criticized by cricket fans that if he had made a bold and aggressive decision and called the Pakistani team to bat again after the follow-on, the outcome of the match might have been different. Well, it happens. Would Australia have thought that Pakistan would bounce back?
From the Karachi Test, it seemed that Babar Azam has the ability and strength to transform the Pakistani Test team. The Pakistani team will be among the top teams in Test cricket with new fighting.
The last match is to be played in Lahore. The morale of the Pakistani team is high. If Pakistan wins the toss, they can put pressure by scoring in the first innings. The Lahore Test should be a result of this historic series. If Pakistan wins, it will have a great impact on national cricket and the team.
