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This thread is not to blame or lay into the players playing for Pakistan (we have separate threads to vent frustrations on this forum). This thread is to identify the areas where every player showed some form of deficiency that needs to be developed or looked into before going into the next test.
Also before I go into every player one by one it is important to remember that a "team" wins a test match and not an "individual". What I mean by that is that 11 players on the field cumulatively contribute into the success unlike T20s or ODIs where one player can score a 200 and effectively win the match for his team.
Further, the analysis below is constructive criticism or observations hence only pointing out the flaws in detail below.
Shan Masood
1. Playing against spinner - Bess troubled Shan on numerous occasions on first day (when spinner should not be troubling you). Shan should work on a break free shot against spinner and rotate the strike better against them.
Abid Ali
1. Technique: Abid naturally plays hard and away from body. Not the best technique against moving ball. He would score plethora of runs against a dead ball in asian conditions though with this technique, but would not work in England against best swing bowlers.
2. Fielding: Although he did not do anything to point out his fielding flaws it was easy to note that on occasions batsmen ran 2 from his fielding when ideally there should have been only 1.
Azhar Ali
1. Age: The way Azhar's head falls over the off side making him lose balance and getting caught on pad in front of stumps is not because of his batting technique its because of his age and diminishing vision/reflexes. Azhar pre-2018 was a strong player of the clip through midwicket but now anything straight and full is causing him trouble. Need to find a way out of this technique else Broad and Woakes would snap him 6/6 times in this series.
2. Captaincy: Very defense minded approach. This was evident from ball 2 of the test match when Burns nudged Shaheen through cover for couple he immediately took the 3rd slip out to plug that gap. Ever since the captaincy (or lack of it) has been dismal.
Babar Azam
1. Nervous starter: Babar needs to work with Younis and leave as much as he can outside offstump for his first half hour at crease. Once he gets couple pinging through middle of his bat he can be more flamboyant.
Asad Shafiq
1. Technique: It has been over a decade and over 70 tests that Asad has represented Pakistan in whites, yet he plays/defends with an angled bat. Dig out any thread from early 2010s and this was a glaring batting technique issue for Asad and yet he hasn't worked this out. This is poor progression.
Rizwan
1. Footwork: On both of his dismissals he has been caught on the crease, given his footwork for the rest of his innings and his keeping I hope he improves on this in next test. Rizwan should try to get forward or back decisively while batting.
Shadab Khan
1. Temperament / impatient: He needs to learn the art of respecting opposition and better cricket. At the moment he walks on the wicket thinking he can own the bowlers, that might work in domestics but not against England in England. I liked his attacking style of play and with that he got starts but threw his start away in first innings.
2. Flight: The biggest difference in Yasir's and Shadab's bowling were that the former was giving the ball enough air to maximise whatever was there in the wicket. Shadab bowled limited overs length rather than test match bowling requirements.
Yasir Shah
1. Consistency: He was too good at times and equally bad at other times. The problem with bad balls especially as a Pakistani player is that the captain is Azhar who would freak out after a boundary and go into a shell. Yasir needs to be more consistent in his lengths.
2. Field placements: Given Yasir is the senior player in the team, he should take charge of his field placements himself.
Shaheen Shah
1. Impatient / temperament: He under utilised bowling over the wicket. He should understand the requirements of patience in test arena. Given the opposition is England who likes to play attacking style of cricket a bit of patience can bring in massive rewards. Stick to over the wicket and get your rhythmic line and length going across the right handers.
Mohammed Abbas
1. Old ball / variations: Not much for Abbas to improve upon. He has been very good in this test and did all that was asked of him. He should however develop some sort of an old ball variation that could help him convert his tight middle overs spell into wicket taking spells.
Naseem Shah
1. Fitness: It looks like he has put on some weight since Sri Lanka tests. Given he is not a very tall lad any extra weight would mean direct impact on your athleticism. He needs to get into shape for fast bowling, maybe that is why we did not see many 90+ balls in this test.
2. Technique: This has been pointed out many times previously he is very side on (which is good) but very injury prone. Needs to make some adjustments, need to work with Waqar.
Misbah-ul-Haq
1. Tactically inept: The lack of player awareness, field setting, tactics on approach to bowling and batting were on full display in this test. I'm surprised at lack of no specific plans at both bowling and batting. Have a look at today morning when tailenders piled 30odd runs, these are benefits of walking out in the middle with a plan. Misbah is the planner in this team and should take responsibility of planning.
Waqar Younis
1. No balls: This was shameful the number of no-balls bowled in this match by bowlers. Waqar should work on it with his bowlers.
Younus Khan
1. Temperament: He needs to work with Babar to ensure Babar leaves balls outside off in his first half hour at crease.
_____________________________________________________
Having said the above, its also fair to point out certain positives from this game:
1. Shan Masood knowing where your offstump is: This is a remarkable improvement of letting balls go outside off and not be tempted by Broad who is fabulous against left handers. If Younus had anything to do with this then credit where it due.
2. Running between wickets: Although Asad got run out in 2nd innings this was a very refreshing approach. Good running is critical to play out long innings and make bowlers ineffective.
3. Yasir's wrong one: Another refreshing thing to see is Yasir bowling more wrong one's, he did not pitch it all that well but it did end up getting Stokes out.
4. Rizwan keeping: Fair to say he is one of best out there in terms of pure keeping skill.
5. Abbas is back: He had a quietish series against Australia but fair to say he is back to his best now. He is the dependable guy in this attack.
Suggestions for next match
I think Azhar should announce retirement either now or after end of 2nd test match. This will ensure that this series would be his last (which is the case most likely). And given Azhar would have announced retirement he would have full backing of fans and less pressure and hence he might be able to score some runs in the remainder of this series. Just a thought.
Also before I go into every player one by one it is important to remember that a "team" wins a test match and not an "individual". What I mean by that is that 11 players on the field cumulatively contribute into the success unlike T20s or ODIs where one player can score a 200 and effectively win the match for his team.
Further, the analysis below is constructive criticism or observations hence only pointing out the flaws in detail below.
Shan Masood
1. Playing against spinner - Bess troubled Shan on numerous occasions on first day (when spinner should not be troubling you). Shan should work on a break free shot against spinner and rotate the strike better against them.
Abid Ali
1. Technique: Abid naturally plays hard and away from body. Not the best technique against moving ball. He would score plethora of runs against a dead ball in asian conditions though with this technique, but would not work in England against best swing bowlers.
2. Fielding: Although he did not do anything to point out his fielding flaws it was easy to note that on occasions batsmen ran 2 from his fielding when ideally there should have been only 1.
Azhar Ali
1. Age: The way Azhar's head falls over the off side making him lose balance and getting caught on pad in front of stumps is not because of his batting technique its because of his age and diminishing vision/reflexes. Azhar pre-2018 was a strong player of the clip through midwicket but now anything straight and full is causing him trouble. Need to find a way out of this technique else Broad and Woakes would snap him 6/6 times in this series.
2. Captaincy: Very defense minded approach. This was evident from ball 2 of the test match when Burns nudged Shaheen through cover for couple he immediately took the 3rd slip out to plug that gap. Ever since the captaincy (or lack of it) has been dismal.
Babar Azam
1. Nervous starter: Babar needs to work with Younis and leave as much as he can outside offstump for his first half hour at crease. Once he gets couple pinging through middle of his bat he can be more flamboyant.
Asad Shafiq
1. Technique: It has been over a decade and over 70 tests that Asad has represented Pakistan in whites, yet he plays/defends with an angled bat. Dig out any thread from early 2010s and this was a glaring batting technique issue for Asad and yet he hasn't worked this out. This is poor progression.
Rizwan
1. Footwork: On both of his dismissals he has been caught on the crease, given his footwork for the rest of his innings and his keeping I hope he improves on this in next test. Rizwan should try to get forward or back decisively while batting.
Shadab Khan
1. Temperament / impatient: He needs to learn the art of respecting opposition and better cricket. At the moment he walks on the wicket thinking he can own the bowlers, that might work in domestics but not against England in England. I liked his attacking style of play and with that he got starts but threw his start away in first innings.
2. Flight: The biggest difference in Yasir's and Shadab's bowling were that the former was giving the ball enough air to maximise whatever was there in the wicket. Shadab bowled limited overs length rather than test match bowling requirements.
Yasir Shah
1. Consistency: He was too good at times and equally bad at other times. The problem with bad balls especially as a Pakistani player is that the captain is Azhar who would freak out after a boundary and go into a shell. Yasir needs to be more consistent in his lengths.
2. Field placements: Given Yasir is the senior player in the team, he should take charge of his field placements himself.
Shaheen Shah
1. Impatient / temperament: He under utilised bowling over the wicket. He should understand the requirements of patience in test arena. Given the opposition is England who likes to play attacking style of cricket a bit of patience can bring in massive rewards. Stick to over the wicket and get your rhythmic line and length going across the right handers.
Mohammed Abbas
1. Old ball / variations: Not much for Abbas to improve upon. He has been very good in this test and did all that was asked of him. He should however develop some sort of an old ball variation that could help him convert his tight middle overs spell into wicket taking spells.
Naseem Shah
1. Fitness: It looks like he has put on some weight since Sri Lanka tests. Given he is not a very tall lad any extra weight would mean direct impact on your athleticism. He needs to get into shape for fast bowling, maybe that is why we did not see many 90+ balls in this test.
2. Technique: This has been pointed out many times previously he is very side on (which is good) but very injury prone. Needs to make some adjustments, need to work with Waqar.
Misbah-ul-Haq
1. Tactically inept: The lack of player awareness, field setting, tactics on approach to bowling and batting were on full display in this test. I'm surprised at lack of no specific plans at both bowling and batting. Have a look at today morning when tailenders piled 30odd runs, these are benefits of walking out in the middle with a plan. Misbah is the planner in this team and should take responsibility of planning.
Waqar Younis
1. No balls: This was shameful the number of no-balls bowled in this match by bowlers. Waqar should work on it with his bowlers.
Younus Khan
1. Temperament: He needs to work with Babar to ensure Babar leaves balls outside off in his first half hour at crease.
_____________________________________________________
Having said the above, its also fair to point out certain positives from this game:
1. Shan Masood knowing where your offstump is: This is a remarkable improvement of letting balls go outside off and not be tempted by Broad who is fabulous against left handers. If Younus had anything to do with this then credit where it due.
2. Running between wickets: Although Asad got run out in 2nd innings this was a very refreshing approach. Good running is critical to play out long innings and make bowlers ineffective.
3. Yasir's wrong one: Another refreshing thing to see is Yasir bowling more wrong one's, he did not pitch it all that well but it did end up getting Stokes out.
4. Rizwan keeping: Fair to say he is one of best out there in terms of pure keeping skill.
5. Abbas is back: He had a quietish series against Australia but fair to say he is back to his best now. He is the dependable guy in this attack.
Suggestions for next match
I think Azhar should announce retirement either now or after end of 2nd test match. This will ensure that this series would be his last (which is the case most likely). And given Azhar would have announced retirement he would have full backing of fans and less pressure and hence he might be able to score some runs in the remainder of this series. Just a thought.
