Pakistan's abysmal home Test record in last 22 years

[AliMurtaza]

For me, a strong test team should not lose at home. Yes, the true measure of a test team should be gauged by their overseas performances but that has to come after building a fortress at home.

Pak and India have lost 15 and 14 home test series in total respectively (excluding India's defeat to England before 1947 and including Pak's UAE record). Go a little deep and you will find that before 1990, Pak and India had lost 4 and 11 home test series respectively. Granted, India got test status before Pakistan and a lot more high profile teams visited them in the 50s and 60s compared to Pakistan but this shows on a high level that Pakistan were a difficult place to tour before 1990. After 1990, Pakistan and India have lost 11 and 3 home test series respectively. While India is the most difficult place to win since the 1990s, followed by Aus, South Africa, and England in that order, Pakistan's 11 home test series losses are only less to Sri Lanka, New Zealand, and West Indies in the same period (excluding Bangladesh and Zimbabwe).

So, Pak has lost 11 home test series since the 1990 against these countries (Pak's 4 home test series losses before 1990 are against England, Australia, New Zealand, and West Indies)

- Australia: 2 test series (1998 and 2002)
- South Africa: 2 test series (1997 and 2007)
- Sri Lanka: 3 test series (1995, 1999, and 2017)
- England: 1 test series (2000)
- New Zealand: 1 test series (2018)
- India: 1 test series (2003)
- Zimbabwe: 1 test series (1998)

Out of these 11 home test series, I strongly feel that 7 home test series were handed on platter to the opposition. Aus (1998 and 2002), India (2003), and South Africa (2007) beat us comprehensively and deserved to win. However, on the remaining 7 occasions, Pak should have either won or drawn the test series.

Please look at the scoreboards and discuss whether you agree with my conclusion

3 home test series losses against Sri Lanka

http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-v-sri-lanka-2017/engine/series/60621.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan-v-sri-lanka-2017/engine/series/60685.html

http://www.espncricinfo.com/scores/series/18036/pak-v-sl-tests-2017-18


1 home test series loss to South Africa in 1997

http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-pakistan-2013/engine/series/60649.html


1 home test series loss to England in 2000

http://www.espncricinfo.com/england-v-pakistan-2016/engine/series/60695.html


1 home test series loss to New Zealand

http://www.espncricinfo.com/scores/series/18876/pak-v-nz-test-2018-19


1 home test series loss to Zimbabwe

http://www.espncricinfo.com/zimbabwe-v-pakistan-2015-16/engine/series/60668.html


I have watched all Pak's test series since the 1995 and happy to discuss each one of these 7 losses in more detail in this thread. However, similar to last 2 losses against New Zealand and Sri Lanka in the last 2 years, the remaining 5 series were lost by Pakistan, not won by the opposition.

 

[AliMurtaza]

Home test series losses really disturb me. If we don't win overseas, I can digest that because you are playing in alien conditions and historically, only Aus, South Africa, England, and West Indies (before the 1990s) won overseas. However, it is simply not acceptable that we should be losing at home. I thought Misbah's era had put an end to the dark period from 1997 to 2007 (we lost 9 home test series in that period) but now it seems that those dark years are back. Really discouraging as a Pak test team fan.

 

[gazza619]

This was expected after the departure of Misbah and Younis.

We need batsmen who can score big.

 

[Sarwar89]

This is not fully explained by the author. Now let me explain it in detail since i have watched all Test Series since India’s Tour to Pakistan in 1989.

Pakistan only lost 1 Test Series from 1969-1995. 1 Test series loss in 26 years. That is freakingly good. And even that loss to West indies in 1980 was narrow 0-1 since team was not united and there were inner frictions and West indies was a damn good team.

Pakistan won the opening Test in 1995 against Sri lanka but Rameez Raja failed to galvanize the team and we ended up losing 1-2 in the end to Sri lankans.

Against South Africa in 1997, Pak failed to achieve 146 in 3rd Test ( decider) pat symcox delivered Ajaz Patel type heroics that day.

Against Zimbabwe in 1998, team unity was at the lowest so was the case in 1998 Australian tour. Inner politics messed it up.

Against England in Karachi, Dec 2000. Moin Khan and his troops choked on 5th Day we were unable to bat out more overs and Umpires did not help Pakistan and in fading light N Hussain did the Kane Williamson. Although 170 odd could have been defended but it was not our day.

Post 2000 team was terrible all the way till 2007. Inzamam lost against india as well.

1969-1995 era was different because Pakistan started to
Produce better breed of players and 50’s generation matured in 70’s and 80’s plus Imran khan hated losing Test match let alone series. He was one the main factors why we didnt lose at home. Under him Pak never lost a Home Test series.

We were about to lose against West indies in 1986 Test series. 3rd Test karachi. They gave us 78 overs to bat out. Pak were 95/7 in 59 overs.

The great Imran khan and tauseef ahmed blocked next 19 overs. Unlike babar azam who threw his wicket, imran khan batted batter and batter and Viv richards gave up.

 

[gazza619]

This is not fully explained by the author. Now let me explain it in detail since i have watched all Test Series since India’s Tour to Pakistan in 1989.

Pakistan only lost 1 Test Series from 1969-1995. 1 Test series loss in 26 years. That is freakingly good. And even that loss to West indies in 1980 was narrow 0-1 since team was not united and there were inner frictions and West indies was a damn good team.

Pakistan won the opening Test in 1995 against Sri lanka but Rameez Raja failed to galvanize the team and we ended up losing 1-2 in the end to Sri lankans.

Against South Africa in 1997, Pak failed to achieve 146 in 3rd Test ( decider) pat symcox delivered Ajaz Patel type heroics that day.

Against Zimbabwe in 1998, team unity was at the lowest so was the case in 1998 Australian tour. Inner politics messed it up.

Against England in Karachi, Dec 2000. Moin Khan and his troops choked on 5th Day we were unable to bat out more overs and Umpires did not help Pakistan and in fading light N Hussain did the Kane Williamson. Although 170 odd could have been defended but it was not our day.

Post 2000 team was terrible all the way till 2007. Inzamam lost against india as well.

1969-1995 era was different because Pakistan started to
Produce better breed of players and 50’s generation matured in 70’s and 80’s plus Imran khan hated losing Test match let alone series. He was one the main factors why we didnt lose at home. Under him Pak never lost a Home Test series.

We were about to lose against West indies in 1986 Test series. 3rd Test karachi. They gave us 78 overs to bat out. Pak were 95/7 in 59 overs.

The great Imran khan and tauseef ahmed blocked next 19 overs. Unlike babar azam who threw his wicket, imran khan batted batter and batter and Viv richards gave up.

Good analysis. We dont have batsmen who put a price tag to their wicket. If you see how Azhar Ali got out in the first innings after getting a hundred, an ugly one handed sweep shot, Imran Khan would have murdered him in the dressing room. But our captain, coach and players were giving him a standing ovation. Same goes with Asad Shafiq. Scored a hundred, considers his job is done and got out. Haris Sohail is another 30 run specialist.

 

[AliMurtaza]

I didn't go in detail as the initial post was getting long. Against South Africa, it was Shan Pollock who blew us away for 92 on a perfect batting track on the 5th day. Against England, it is true that we couldn't bat long enough and literally threw away our wickets on the final day to give England a chaseable target of 170+. However, I strongly feel that both those last day performances against South Africa and England were a result of non-cricketing reasons. A lot of matches were deliberately thrown by our players in the 1990s and I feel these two matches were also very suspicious.

Against Zimbabwe, if weather had not intervened, we would have at least drawn the series. However, there was real infighting between the team and I feel the first test match was lost just to undermine the captain. However, the players perhaps didn't know that weather during the remaining two test matches wouldn't allow them to make a comeback.

All 3 test series against Sri Lanka and the last test series against New Zealand gave us ample opportunities but we couldn't take our chances. Also, in all these 4 series, toss played an important role as Mulri in the 1990s, Herath in 2017, and Ijaz Patel in 2018 almost became unplayable on last day.

 

[Sarwar89]

Good analysis. We dont have batsmen who put a price tag to their wicket. If you see how Azhar Ali got out in the first innings after getting a hundred, an ugly one handed sweep shot, Imran Khan would have murdered him in the dressing room. But our captain, coach and players were giving him a standing ovation. Same goes with Asad Shafiq. Scored a hundred, considers his job is done and got out. Haris Sohail is another 30 run specialist.

Sad but true.

 

[Sarwar89]

Good analysis. We dont have batsmen who put a price tag to their wicket. If you see how Azhar Ali got out in the first innings after getting a hundred, an ugly one handed sweep shot, Imran Khan would have murdered him in the dressing room. But our captain, coach and players were giving him a standing ovation. Same goes with Asad Shafiq. Scored a hundred, considers his job is done and got out. Haris Sohail is another 30 run specialist.

I didn't go in detail as the initial post was getting long. Against South Africa, it was Shan Pollock who blew us away for 92 on a perfect batting track on the 5th day. Against England, it is true that we couldn't bat long enough and literally threw away our wickets on the final day to give England a chaseable target of 170+. However, I strongly feel that both those last day performances against South Africa and England were a result of non-cricketing reasons. A lot of matches were deliberately thrown by our players in the 1990s and I feel these two matches were also very suspicious.

Against Zimbabwe, if weather had not intervened, we would have at least drawn the series. However, there was real infighting between the team and I feel the first test match was lost just to undermine the captain. However, the players perhaps didn't know that weather during the remaining two test matches wouldn't allow them to make a comeback.

All 3 test series against Sri Lanka and the last test series against New Zealand gave us ample opportunities but we couldn't take our chances. Also, in all these 4 series, toss played an important role as Mulri in the 1990s, Herath in 2017, and Ijaz Patel in 2018 almost became unplayable on last day.

Ajaz Patel was very much playable. 6 wickets in hand 29 needed. Babar azam run out and that is it.

 

[ElRaja]

no point in splitting home and away tests.

pak even at its best post 95 have been a collection of very good cricketers, but always a group of individuals more than a team. non competitive first class cricket is to blame. the mental gap between tests and first class is too much. even the best pak players of the last few decades used to choke chasing.

all these issues are only exacerbated abroad!

also the uae is not home conditions, never has been. pak pitches were much better for batting, and rough outfields brought reverse swing into play more.

 

[rudra]

This is the best time to tour pak/uae.
No mis you, babar still finding his feet. Azhar on decline, asad meek as ever.
Longest and weakest tail starting from sarfaraz.

Any touring has to just get better of yasir and win the series. Its been too easy in last 12 months. Bang vs pak test series will be very interesting right now, all 3 matches will go down to the wire. Mehndi, taijul, shakib can collectively match yasir, bilal.

I wish fakhar, babar, harris develop into very good test batsman. And a good partner is needed for yasir not fake allrounders like nawaz, shadab, imad.
Cant afford another asian team going downhill after SL.

 

[Zaz]

its a variety of factors that have contributed to our poor home record in the last 30 years

firstly players underperforming, missing games due to being “unfit” or undermining the captain this was especially prevalent in the 90s when their was severe infighting and capta8ncy was changing hands practically every year

selections - many times esp in the 90s left field picks were made which puzzled your mind There were always 1-2 suspicious pics that would weaken the team and these players would never play again for eg many times a young 17 year old was thrown in and never played again or the likes of rashid and moin both playing many times in a line up when neither was good enoughto play as batmen alone

the art of test match batting has been lost since the 80s especially when it comes to grinding out draws
Theres been dozens of times over the last 30 years where the team have collpased spectacularly when they shouldve easily drawn games Whether its poor mental ability, stupid decison making or just not having the patience to grind time and overs out This is where misbah was pretty good and would put a heavy time and balls price on his wicket which many others in the middle to lower order havent done since the 80s

 

[PakLFC]

This is because according to [MENTION=142156]Snatch[/MENTION] the opposition always makes us bat last when winning the toss! We should know that they must always play to Pak's strengths by putting us in first! Right snatch!!?)) This is the fundamental reason for our terrible record

 

[emranabbas]

UAE isn't Home
Home is in Pakistan
UAE is a neutral Venue

 

[Snatch]

This is because according to [MENTION=142156]Snatch[/MENTION] the opposition always makes us bat last when winning the toss! We should know that they must always play to Pak's strengths by putting us in first! Right snatch!!?)) This is the fundamental reason for our terrible record

Have you read up on cricket history yet to understand 4th innings runs are the hardest? Shouldn't take you long to grasp the concept.

 

[shane]

To be fair, Pakistan have never actually played at home for over a decade. But yeah, their Test record is pretty abysmal in every part of the world except England (where it is average).

 

[PakLFC]

Have you read up on cricket history yet to understand 4th innings runs are the hardest? Shouldn't take you long to grasp the concept.

Great teams chase whatever total is needed. Hell we struggle to chase 120 when batting last! What you are saying is that the team batting last may as well give up as the game is so dependant on the toss which is ridiculous. Had that been the case often teams winning the toss would not happily decide to chase in the fourth innings. It depends on the pitch, conditions and batting line up. Our batting line fails more then any other.

 

[giri26]

UAE isn't Home
Home is in Pakistan
UAE is a neutral Venue

Not only UAE, even when Pakistan were playing at home, they lost quite often. India and SL were much harder place to win for overseas teams. Pakistan in spite of having a better team than other Asian countries during the 90's for some reason weren't an unbeatable team at home.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

UAE isn't Home
Home is in Pakistan
UAE is a neutral Venue

Neutral venue for some Pak fans, maybe. It's home to Pak for everybody else.

 

[Heisenberg111]

To be fair, Pakistan have never actually played at home for over a decade. But yeah, their Test record is pretty abysmal in every part of the world except England (where it is average).

What are you talking about? Do you know that Pakistan has the best win loss ratio in test cricket at home ?