The Positives and Negatives of Pakistan’s Tour to Australia

Yet another drubbing by the hands of the Ozs, but this time it was different. While on the previous occasions we actually stood a chance of winning at least one test, this time we didn’t even come close to winning one, losing the first test by an innings and 5 runs while losing the second test by an innings and 48. Let’s break down the Positives and Negatives.

Positives:

1. Babar Azam’s Evolution as a test player: Babar Azam took a positive step toward his evolution as a test player. While I am critical of Mickey Arthur’s rein as head coach I give him credit for sticking with Babar. It is finally paying dividends. Babar Azam has started scoring regularly and boy does he look good hitting those cover drives.
2. Muhammad Rizwan Wicketkeeping and Batting: Rizwan showed good Wicket keeping technique as well as good Batting technique. I have never seen a Pakistani Wicket keeper with pads on running all the way to the boundary and diving to stop a four and boy was it satisfying. Plus his 90-odd in the first test was one of the greatest innings by a Pakistani wicketkeeper in Australia.
3. Shaheen Shah Afridi bowling: Although the bowling wasn’t anything to be proud of Shaheen Shah Afridi bowled some great spells regularly pitching the ball up and troubling the Batsmen. If he had some support from the other end Things might’ve turned out differently for Pakistan.

Negatives:

1. The bowling and Team Selection: Only bowling Australia out once in four innings will never win you a Test Match in Australia. You have to take 20 wickets to win a test match. Pakistan took 13 out of the 40. The bowling lineup was inexperienced which could’ve been avoided. There were an ample amount of Bowlers present in Domestic cricket. Junaid Khan, Tabish Khan, and Usman Shamwari to name a few. Debuting a 19-year-old in Australia who has zero five-wicket hauls was just the icing on the cake. What would the Great Abdur Raqib think? Taking 643 wickets in First class cricket yet never represented Pakistan. What would Tabish khan think? Taking 565 wickets at 23.9 with 37 five Wicket hauls. Is a test cap really that cheap? What about proving you belong to the big leagues by Performing in First class cricket first.
2. The Fielding: This point speaks for itself.
3. The batting: Don’t let the scorecards fool you Pakistan’s batting was poor(not as bad as the bowling). When your number 8(Premier Spin bowler) has the second-highest average among all the batsmen, it really shows where the batting stands.
4. Poor tactics: Same old Yasir Shah, same old field, and same old Warner smashing him around the Park. Misbah didn’t learn from his mistakes in the 2016-17 tour as Yasir Shah bowled the same old leg stump line with the same old 6-3 field and Warner smashed him around as easily as he had done two years previously. There hardly ever looked like there was a plan and Pakistan never threatened to take a wicket with the new ball.

It’s really Something to Think about when one of the best Test batsmen ever says this Is the worst bowling lineup to ever reach our shores. Hopefully, Pakistan will learn from its mistakes. If they don’t they’ll drop out of the Top 10 Test team rankings soon. We are already down to 8 in the Test rankings with a difficult home tour of Sri Lanka coming up. Hopefully, we will learn from our mistakes and come back strongly.