Pakistani failures to chase scores in the 4th innings in Test matches

[Savak]

1) Pakistan vs Australia 2nd test KHI in 2022

Pakistan at one point of time under Babar and Rizwan was on course to chase the 500 runs plus target when Babar, Rizwan were out there but for some reason Babar and Rizwan slowed down and started to block every delivery and eventually one ball got Babar our bat and pad and the team settled for a draw

2) Pakistan vs Australia 3rd test Lahore in 2022

Team failed to chase a 350 run target after starting the final day at 70/0

3) Pakistan vs Sri Lanka 2nd test in Colombo in 2022

Failed to chase a 300 runs plus target in the 4th innings

4) Pakistan vs England 1st test in Rawalpindi in 2022

Pakistan were 257/4 at tea on the final day and then proceeded to lose their last 6 wickets in quick succession and we lost

5) Pakistan vs England 2nd test in Multan in 2022

Pakistan were 290/5 on the final day before Nawaz, Saud fell for the leg side traps when the pressure of victory became real

Clearly our players are chokers when the pressure really gets on. Our poor domestic cricket does not expose these players at an early age to these situations.

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Galleing

 

[BreadPakoda]

Never east to chase 300+ in the fourth innings. It’s the bowlers’ fault for letting visiting teams amass so many runs.

 

[Savak]

Never east to chase 300+ in the fourth innings. It’s the bowlers’ fault for letting visiting teams amass so many runs.

It was the Pakistani team which collapsed in the first innings. Regardless chasing 300 runs plus is not impossible in the fourth innings. Teams like England, Australia and India have done it many times.

 

[Amjid Javed]

To chase down any big total 300+ you usually need the following

1) Batsmen to score a hundred or score big in final inns (Apart from Babar / Abdullah) none of other batsmen have shown ability to do this, its all good wracking up easy runs on dead wickets, different when your chasing. Nice 40/50s Dont win you a game.

2) Poor mindset / Match awareness, seems to never been any game plan chasing. The Inns seems to go through stages of struggle, then free scoring and then back into block mode. In 1st Test Azhar / Agha seem to have no game plan of what they were actually doing after tea, where they chasing the target or saving the game. Same thing here Nawaz and Saud went on a go slow all off a sudden which lead to pressure as well. When no batsmen is taking responsibility themselves you aint going to win games chasing.

 

[jnaveen1980]

It is tough for most sides. Just because England did a couple of times at home it is not easy. This is why first innings is important.

 

[jnaveen1980]

To chase down any big total 300+ you usually need the following

1) Batsmen to score a hundred or score big in final inns (Apart from Babar / Abdullah) none of other batsmen have shown ability to do this, its all good wracking up easy runs on dead wickets, different when your chasing. Nice 40/50s Dont win you a game.

2) Poor mindset / Match awareness, seems to never been any game plan chasing. The Inns seems to go through stages of struggle, then free scoring and then back into block mode. In 1st Test Azhar / Agha seem to have no game plan of what they were actually doing after tea, where they chasing the target or saving the game. Same thing here Nawaz and Saud went on a go slow all off a sudden which lead to pressure as well. When no batsmen is taking responsibility themselves you aint going to win games chasing.

Like this?

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...ka-vs-pakistan-3rd-test-860267/full-scorecard

 

[Suleiman]

Never east to chase 300+ in the fourth innings. It’s the bowlers’ fault for letting visiting teams amass so many runs.

In the last 2 games both 300+ scores seemed within reach only for the middle order to collapse yet again and the captain offering absolutely nothing with the bat.

Bowlers are to blame, yes, but there’s plenty of threads on that.

This is about the mental fragility of our batsmen to finish the job after the close is near and the win is more than achievable.

 

[zaidihusain]

Never east to chase 300+ in the fourth innings. It’s the bowlers’ fault for letting visiting teams amass so many runs.

300+ is very much chasable in modern day test cricket specially in these kind of wickets. Somebody has to score 100 plus, with couple of innings of 70-80 runs.Chasing is mainly difficult when you are playing on rank turner.

 

[Markhor]

Why are we chasing 300+ in 4th inns in the first place ? That to me suggests:

A) Not understanding how to bowl first up. Seems like we get demoralised once we lose the toss and lack ability to contain in good batting conditions.

B) Conceding big 1st innings deficits. That 1st inns collapse after being 107-2 was terrible with several unnecessary shots.

Despite all that, we lost by 26 runs and I cannot help but think if we only we had a competent spinner instead of Zahid who was the most expensive spinner on both sides. Even part-timer Root was more economical.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Yes in the last 6 test pakistan has had to chased in every game, The bare face facts are that the reason we have had to chase such total that we have has been the pathetic efforts with the bat in the 1st inns in most of these test and also fact we have given away leads on 1st inns

2nd Test vs Aus - Aus 556/9 vs Pakistan 148 (408 Run lead given away)
3rd Test vs Aus - Aus 391 vs Pakistan 268 (123 run lead given away)
1st Test vs SL - SL 222 vs Pakistan 222 (4 run lead given away)
2nd test vs SL - SL 378 vs Pakistan 231 (147 run lead given away)
1st test vs Eng - Eng 657 vs Pakistan 579 (78 Run lead given away)
2nd test vs Eng - Eng 281 vs Pakistan (78 Run lead given away)

So apart Rawalpindi, out pathetic batting line up simply hasnt turned up or scored any meaningful runs, 1st inns of a game helps you either helps you set up a win or gives you a chance to save the game. Fact is pakistan on 1st inns in all 6 tests have been chasing the game.

Until these pathetic loser batsmen actually turn up in 1st half of game we will keep losing and also keep having to chase totals we have been set. You take out the Rawalpindi test and we have passed 250 once in 5 tests matches in our 1st inns.

 

[Amjid Javed]

In the last 2 games both 300+ scores seemed within reach only for the middle order to collapse yet again and the captain offering absolutely nothing with the bat.

Bowlers are to blame, yes, but there’s plenty of threads on that.

This is about the mental fragility of our batsmen to finish the job after the close is near and the win is more than achievable.

Bowlers arent the main culprits , go look at the last 6 tests played and in each of them pakistan has concede a deficit on 1st inns. In 5 out of the last 6 test on 1st inns pakistan had passed 270+ once and that was in rawalpindi in 1st test vs England.

If you are not going to score runs in 1st inns of a test you are either going to be playing the rest of it trying to play for draw or chasing huge totals.

 

[Savak]

Weak lower middle order and tail is the problem. Most oppositions know if you get through Pakistan's top 4, the rest 6 wickets are no problem. I can't blame the selectors wanting to fill the lower order with all rounders, pakistan has the worst tail in the world.

 

[Abdullah]

In the last 2 games both 300+ scores seemed within reach only for the middle order to collapse yet again and the captain offering absolutely nothing with the bat.

Bowlers are to blame, yes, but there’s plenty of threads on that.

This is about the mental fragility of our batsmen to finish the job after the close is near and the win is more than achievable.

I think it is bloody hard to score 350 to win a game in the subcontinent.
Not many teams have done it ever.
The thing is this- even when you get to sub 100 runs and you have 5 wickets in hand, it is still 25-30 overs of batting left to be done which is a good 2 and a bit hours for the bowling side to get 5 wickets- 2 or 3 of which are of people who can't bat-( so will nearly always fail ina pressure cooker situation)
So even when you going well- it looks closer to the chasing team than it actually is
It is heartbreaking of course when you lose like we did today

 

[Amjid Javed]

1st Inns Batting in last 6 tests (Apart from Babar no one has really score heavily in 1st inns, most of other batsmen scored runs at pindi and otherwise have produced nothing)

Abdullah 13, 81,13, 0, 114, 14
Imam 20, 11,2, 32, 121, 0
Babar 36, 67, 119, 16,136, 75
Azhar 14, 78, 3, 27, 136
Fawad 0,13,24
Saud 37, 63
Agha 5, 62, 53, 10
Rizwan 16,1, 19, 24, 29, 4

 

[Amjid Javed]

Weak lower middle order and tail is the problem. Most oppositions know if you get through Pakistan's top 4, the rest 6 wickets are no problem. I can't blame the selectors wanting to fill the lower order with all rounders, pakistan has the worst tail in the world.

Its not just the so called weak lower middle order or tail. Pakistan keep picking just 5 front line batsmen most of the time which has included Azhar and Fawad who were not good enough, Imam hasnt scored any real runs in 1st inns of a match apart from Pindi. Only Babar is scoring heavily in 1st inns. Add to that using Rizwan in the top 6 when his batting has not been good enough makes things even worse.

You take out the scores from the pindi 1st test vs england and "Top 6 or 7 have been pathetic"

1st inns last 5 test excluding Rawalpindi 1st test vs england

Abdullah 13, 81,13, 0, 14
Imam 20, 11,2, 32, 0
Babar 36, 67, 119, 16 75,
Azhar 14, 78, 3, 27,
Fawad 0,13,24
Saud 63
Agha 5, 62, 10
Rizwan 16,1, 19, 24, 4

Look at those scores its a shambles!

 

[MenInG]

A rare success

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OnThisDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OnThisDay</a> in 2014. Pakistan made 302 for 5 in only 57.3 overs - the fastest ever chase of a 300-plus total, to win the Sharjah Test and draw the series 1-1 with Sri Lanka <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/vA0HERgcp3">pic.twitter.com/vA0HERgcp3</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/SajSadiqCricket/status/1616351340825051137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
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