PCB says: "Brace yourselves for the Pakistan🆚 England 3️⃣-match Test series" but what are Pakistan fans expecting?

[MenInG]

Let me be totally/brutally honest.

I, like @Saj am expecting a whitewash at the hands of England.

Anything less will be an achievement.

Nothing that has happened since the day BD left our shores with the trophy in hand has given any indication of positive result for Pakistan against England.

Yes, we had the Champions Cup, a connection camp, and a Shan presser.

But nothing else which gives you any semblance of preparation for this series.

So, when PCB say:


"Brace yourselves for the Pakistan vs England 3-match Test series in Multan and Rawalpindi!" - I say brace yourself for disaster.

 

[mominsaigol]

3-0 England, End of story. England should be ashamed if they lose.

Not possible to lose to a team that has players who can't even bowl 130, and batters who can't handle pace or read spin even in their own home den.

 

[FearlessRoar]

#HumTayyarHien

 

[shamaan]

2-1 England

 

[Devadwal]

2-1 to Pakistan as English attack is very poor for this series .

 

[The Bald Eagle]

#HumTayyarHien

Ifti should have been part of the Test side, would have been fun watching Afridi 2.0

 

[Devadwal]

Ifti should have been part of the Test side, would have been fun watching Afridi 2.0

0(1) perfect tribute to Afridi .

 

[shariqnoor]

Prepare 3 snake pitches and go from there. If you lose, you lose. At least the intent would've been to go for the win. England aren't good against any spin. Even Agha Salman can cause them trouble on snake pitches. Pakistan may be able to nick a win with rank turners.

But given what has transpired, PCB will again look towards preparing a Pindi-style road to try and force a draw but will inevitably boomerang on them.

 

[RidiculousMan]

Let me be totally/brutally honest.

I, like @Saj am expecting a whitewash at the hands of England.

Anything less will be an achievement.

Nothing that has happened since the day BD left our shores with the trophy in hand has given any indication of positive result for Pakistan against England.

Yes, we had the Champions Cup, a connection camp, and a Shan presser.

But nothing else which gives you any semblance of preparation for this series.

So, when PCB say:


"Brace yourselves for the Pakistan vs England 3-match Test series in Multan and Rawalpindi!" - I say brace yourself for disaster.

100% agreed. England are here to rekindle their BazzBall. The world saw the massacre of it 2 years ago. They will see an improved version of it this month.

Brace yourself as a Pakistani Cricket fan indeed.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

#HumTayyarHien

it must say

#HumBarbaadHain

 

[Buffet]

1-1 ,

I know Pakistan has played bad cricket recently, but how long team can perform this bad on home grounds. 2-3 players need to step up and Eng bowling is not that good. Now if team plays like the last series then it will be 0-3 loss.

 

[Aqib_mustafa]

Prepare 3 snake pitches and go from there. If you lose, you lose. At least the intent would've been to go for the win. England aren't good against any spin. Even Agha Salman can cause them trouble on snake pitches. Pakistan may be able to nick a win with rank turners.

But given what has transpired, PCB will again look towards preparing a Pindi-style road to try and force a draw but will inevitably boomerang on them.

Bro you made a excellent point i keep on saying why cant pak prepare spin pitches they won in sri lanka if i remember right pitches in sri lanka turn from day 1 so people here keep saying spin pitch won help pak they all are wrong here funny thing is pak got excellent players of spin saud abdullah agha these guys scored bulk of runs in sri lanka series

 

[Aqib_mustafa]

1-1 ,

I know Pakistan has played bad cricket recently, but how long team can perform this bad on home grounds. 2-3 players need to step up and Eng bowling is not that good. Now if team plays like the last series then it will be 0-3 loss.

Bro if you remember pak won that sri lanka series last year in sri lanka where ball turn from ball 1 so thats means pak actually got a strength with pitches that turn pak best chance to win a series is by preparing pitches that turn

 

[TeymurBlake]

I don't know what to expect, on one hand I could see Pakistan winning, on the other hand a England whitewash is also foreseeable.

The major issue is though, what is the appetite like for a Pakistan series after the Bangladrsh series loss.

I get the feeling Pakistan fans haven't forgetting the recent failures of this team. But a series win against England should be a positive step, one would think.

 

[shaz619]

0(1) perfect tribute to Afridi .

Chacha can only dream of being the kind of player Afridi was in Tests, and even if be dreams of it, he better wake up and apologise.

But just an extra bonus for you buddy:

Shahid Afridi against India in Tests:

Batting Average of 47 @ S/R 97.25, every 50 converted to 100

And, 14 wickets @ 33, but 11 off those at 25 in India

Be quiet jobber.

 

[AAli98]

If Rizwan’s saud shakeel Abra don’t perform expect at least 1 innings defeat in the whitewash.

 

[Savak]

PCB has signed a last minute broadcast deal with Sky. However they have signed at a loss. TNT sports offered a significantly higher amount 18 months ago but the PCB thought they could hold out for a higher amount but that didn't happen and when the PCB went back to TNT, they told the PCB to get lost and PCB lost that amount which was higher than the amounts offered by all subsequent broadcasters.

 

[Buffet]

Bro if you remember pak won that sri lanka series last year in sri lanka where ball turn from ball 1 so thats means pak actually got a strength with pitches that turn pak best chance to win a series is by preparing pitches that turn

Turning pitches will anyway give more chance than super flat pitches. Eng can bat well mostly on flat pitches.

 

[mon858]

I feel like it's a good time to support our team now. One can only go up from having lost t20 to usa. And test series white wash to Bangladesh. So now that we really know our true auqat and ranking, we can be happy if we draw a test. Or let's say compete over 5 days but lose. Or avoid inning defeats, or some individual milestones like some 2 3 wicket burst or some well made 90 odd.

Or give chance to new player like hurraira and he scores some flowing off drives.

 

[Vikram1989]

If it's highways, England first innings will decide the series.If Eng scores again 500 to 600 in a day,pak will loose the interest and its only downward spiral for them after bng whitewash.If it's a rank turner, they can hope something out of ordinary as by law of averages. Eng got good spinners than pak and they are decent bat too.

 

[Devadwal]

Chacha can only dream of being the kind of player Afridi was in Tests, and even if be dreams of it, he better wake up and apologise.

But just an extra bonus for you buddy:

Shahid Afridi against India in Tests:

Batting Average of 47 @ S/R 97.25, every 50 converted to 100

And, 14 wickets @ 33, but 11 off those at 25 in India

Be quiet jobber.

On World biggest stages he score 0(1) against india. Now

 

[BouncerGuy]

I am expecting another series defeat at home and making our record at home even worse than what it was before.

Want to see spin-friendly tracks and both Abrar and Noman should play. The best chance will be on spinning tracks, IMO.

 

[Hellion]

Isn't Zahid Mehmood part of the squad ?

 

[jnaveen1980]

"Pakistan would one lose to Scotland one day But beat England on another day" -on behalf of Nasser

 

[Energy]

Pakistan will compete better in this series. If it's a turning wicket in Multan, expecting Pakistan to win both tests.

It's a balanced squad, and having both Jamal and Agha at your disposal will mean better batting depth. Nauman Chacha will be tasked with spin duties and I'm expecting Shaheen and Naseem to be main quicks.

 

[Devadwal]

How is the pitch? Multan is known for flat pitch where Viru scored 309 .

 

[Devadwal]

Pakistan will compete better in this series. If it's a turning wicket in Multan, expecting Pakistan to win both tests.

It's a balanced squad, and having both Jamal and Agha at your disposal will mean better batting depth. Nauman Chacha will be tasked with spin duties and I'm expecting Shaheen and Naseem to be main quicks.

Pakistan needs two proper spinner not part time like Agha .

 

[shaz619]

On World biggest stages he score 0(1) against india. Now

Tests are the highest level, his performances home/away against you have to admit are the stuff off legend and imo some of the finest moments of his career

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Test cricket in Pakistan died on 3rd September. 2024. So I guess now we are in purgatory.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

How is the pitch? Multan is known for flat pitch where Viru scored 309 .

Pakistani pitches have no discernible personality. But more often than not, they are roads. 2019-21 is the outlier period when we got really good and balanced pitches.

 

[Rana]

If Rizwan’s saud shakeel Abra don’t perform expect at least 1 innings defeat in the whitewash.

Wow you added Saud in your high esteemed expectations

 

[Rana]

Test cricket in Pakistan died on 3rd September. 2024. So I guess now we are in purgatory.

No it didn’t

It died when Ben Stokes left no escape route whatsoever in Rawalpindi 2022.

Pakistan tried its best to crawl out, but Stokes and England dragged it through the back of its hair every hair at every escape route. That’s a defeat that buried Pakistan cricket!

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

No it didn’t

It died when Ben Stokes left no escape route whatsoever in Rawalpindi 2022.

Pakistan tried its best to crawl out, but Stokes and England dragged it through the back of its hair every hair at every escape route. That’s a defeat that buried Pakistan cricket!

That was pretty embarrassing but atleast that was Pakistan losing to a far superior test team. Losing to 9th ranked Bangladesh is rock bottom.

 

[Rana]

That was pretty embarrassing but atleast that was Pakistan losing to a far superior test team. Losing to 9th ranked Bangladesh is rock bottom.

But the surreal damage was done on this occasion. Imagine the mental trauma suffered? You are incapable of drawing a Test match on a road at home? You do everything in your power to escape with a draw but it just isn’t happening! There is no recovering from this. All players who experienced this would know that every crunch situation going forward will have you as the loser coming out of it.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

But the surreal damage was done on this occasion. Imagine the mental trauma suffered? You are incapable of drawing a Test match on a road at home? You do everything in your power to escape with a draw but it just isn’t happening! There is no recovering from this. All players who experienced this would know that every crunch situation going forward will have you as the loser coming out of it.

I'm sure that loss was soul crushing. Especially considering there were scores of what? 650 plays 579 in that match? But after that series Pakistan still regained form and managed to win a Test series in Sri Lanka, where they played some unconventionally positive and attacking cricket. But this...this loss is something that has absolutely traumatized the fans. There have been low-points in Pakistan cricket but most of us never thought we would see the day where we got whitewashed by Bangladesh in a test series at home.

 

[HydratedTurnip]

Depends on the tracks - if it would be roads then a whitewash from Eng is extremely likely, but if PCB is smart and prepares spin friendly tracks where Pak is fortunate enough to bat first, then this series could be close imo.

Eng is still quite bad when it comes to play decent spin bowling

 

[Devadwal]

Pakistani pitches have no discernible personality. But more often than not, they are roads. 2019-21 is the outlier period when we got really good and balanced pitches.

I hope pakistan prepare rank Turner , trust me every Pakistani fan's will enjoyed the match where every ball is an event.

I personally love the low scoring thriller rather than high scoring matches .

 

[Hellion]

I hope pakistan prepare rank Turner , trust me every Pakistani fan's will enjoyed the match where every ball is an event.

I personally love the low scoring thriller rather than high scoring matches .

Yeah Pakistan should make bowling friendly pitches.

England's bowling is superior . So it's important to reduce that gap.

Whether the likes of Shan Masood can score on such pitches or not is another story.

But it will give Pakistan a greater chance.

 

[mominsaigol]

I hope pakistan prepare rank Turner , trust me every Pakistani fan's will enjoyed the match where every ball is an event.

I personally love the low scoring thriller rather than high scoring matches .

If that happens, pakistan will get bundled out for 30?

 

[Devadwal]

If that happens, pakistan will get bundled out for 30?

No way. Pakistan only chance to win against England on rank Turner.

England bowling quality is very poor for this tour . No express pace bowler like Archer and wood to trouble pakistan batsman .

 

[HARKS]

Pakistan spinners are worse than England ones, if spin track is prepared I fully expect Pakistan to eailsy bundled out for 100 odd runs, but English batters will definitely play aggressively and score 200+ runs ,that difference will cause defeat of pakistan. All of u forgetting something important, even in India which has top class spinners struggle to contain scoring rate , Only big difference which result in 4- 1 is Bumrah and I don't see even 1/4th of bowler in pakistan team

 

[Devadwal]

England's bowling is superior . So it's important to reduce that gap.

No. England bowling options are very medicore .

Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse ,Matthew Potts, Chris Woak - All four bowlers are medium pacers, who are going to expose badly outside england.

 

[mominsaigol]

No way. Pakistan only chance to win against England on rank Turner.

England bowling quality is very poor for this tour . No express pace bowler like Archer and wood to trouble pakistan batsman .

Besides Abrar, no one would trouble English batters and England isn't that poor against spin. Their still a professional unit.

Infact pakistan is worse at playing spin then England

 

[Hellion]

No. England bowling options are very medicore .

Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse ,Matthew Potts, Chris Woak - All four bowlers are medium pacers, who are going to expose badly outside england.

Lol what? Atkinson is a genuine fast bowler . And Carse and Potts have decent pace too. They are all quicker than any PAK bowler not named Naseem.

 

[Devadwal]

Besides Abrar, no one would trouble English batters and England isn't that poor against spin. Their still a professional unit.

Infact pakistan is worse at playing spin then England

Pakistan haven't won any test matches from last 3 year at home ,so why not try something new which is weak point of apposition teams

Spin friendly pitches are best for pakistan against England . Patta pitches are only suitable for bazball cricket .
.

 

[Hellion]

Besides Abrar, no one would trouble English batters and England isn't that poor against spin. Their still a professional unit.

Infact pakistan is worse at playing spin then England

Maybe but it will you give a chance to compete at least. On flat wickets, it's a foregone conclusion.

 

[Aqib_mustafa]

Besides Abrar, no one would trouble English batters and England isn't that poor against spin. Their still a professional unit.

Infact pakistan is worse at playing spin then England

If pak is worse in playing spin how come they won series in sri lanka vs jayasuria and mendis it means pak are not that bad people are making them look bad you dont beat sri lanka in sri lanka if you are bad vs spin

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

I hope pakistan prepare rank Turner , trust me every Pakistani fan's will enjoyed the match where every ball is an event.

I personally love the low scoring thriller rather than high scoring matches .

Pakistan's own ability to play spin is also pretty suspect. Babar in particular has been struggling heavily against left-arm spin for quite some time. I feel Saud Shakeel, Rizwan and Agha Salman are the only decent players of spin in that side. Sarfraz, who is unlikely to start is an excellent player of spin.

I see your point but somehow I think Pakistan is too cowardly to produce a pitch that will likely guarantee a result within 3 days.

 

[mominsaigol]

Maybe but it will you give a chance to compete at least. On flat wickets, it's a foregone conclusion.

You can give Uganda the best pitches that suit them and give them every bit of an unfair advantage and they'll still get mauled by England.

The gap between pakistan and England is sky high.

This is a decent England test squad facing the worst pakistan test squad in history. 2024 pakistan test squad is so bad that 2010, 2023 and 2022 test squad look like all time greats.

 

[mominsaigol]

If pak is worse in playing spin how come they won series in sri lanka vs jayasuria and mendis it means pak are not that bad people are making them look bad you dont beat sri lanka in sri lanka if you are bad vs spin

The one that played sri lanka had a more inform Babar, a more inform Abdullah, a more inform saud, a more inform bowling unit with shaheen, Naseem, Abrar and Noman. The bowlers were capable of bowling out the opposition which they did for 166 and 188 in the 2nd test.

Current Pakistan can't even win when posting a 400 to 500 total as their bowling is so poor that any opposition will nullify the lead.

Pakistan after the india game in asia cup 2023 was mentally done and dusted.

The bowling is a total joke now, qith even naseem showing that pot belly. And the batters are infinitely worse in form qith the exception of Shan Masood who's always in poor form irrespective.

All the newbies like Abdullah and saud who batting wise won the sri lanka test series have faded. Saud now has poor form as seen in champions one day cup as well as the test series where his 100 was medicore compared to das or rizwan or mushfiqar considering thr pitch was a road.

Whereas in 2023 he was scoring runs in every domestic circuit.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Test cricket in Pakistan in the past two years has been so goddamn boring (even the matches that Pakistan lost) that at this point I only want to see a minefield. Don't care if it aids pace or spin. Don't even care if Pakistan get bowled out for 50. Atleast the match will be entertaining to watch.

 

[Aqib_mustafa]

Test cricket in Pakistan in the past two years has been so goddamn boring (even the matches that Pakistan lost) that at this point I only want to see a minefield. Don't care if it aids pace or spin. Don't even care if Pakistan get bowled out for 50. Atleast the match will be entertaining to watch.

Bro can we atleast get spin track in pakistan i think it is possible with the heat pitch will break down in multan as we know how hot it gets in multan whats your take on this?

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

If it was in England I would fancy Pakistan's chances more highly, as they would be looking forward to dawats and visiting nice restaurants for their selfies, and this only works out if they are performing well. If they were getting spanked then they would be a bit more reluctant to show their faces. Although they still would but would be less enjoyable.

In Pakistan I don't see what motivation they will have. If anything they might underperform to get the foreign coach sacked if he's pushing them too hard.

 

[Devadwal]

Pakistan's own ability to play spin is also pretty suspect. Babar in particular has been struggling heavily against left-arm spin for quite some time. I feel Saud Shakeel, Rizwan and Agha Salman are the only decent players of spin in that side. Sarfraz, who is unlikely to start is an excellent player of spin.

I see your point but somehow I think Pakistan is too cowardly to produce a pitch that will likely guarantee a result within 3 days.

Babar is only weak against Spinners so for his stat padding pakistan can't lose series per series at home .

Saud , Abdullah ,saim , Rizwan and Agha all are good against spinners to post a competitive score .

Atleast pakistan can take gamble with rank Turner for this series so we can know where they are standing .

Flat pitches are the reason no crowds came to watch test cricket in pakistan.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Bro can we atleast get spin track in pakistan i think it is possible with the heat pitch will break down in multan as we know how hot it gets in multan whats your take on this?

Bro I honestly don't know what they are doing with the pitches. I think they are making some major blunders in selecting the soil and/or curating the wicket. Because I don't understand how you intend for a wicket to turn out a certain way and its turns out completely differently to that. They can definitely produce a spin-friendly wicket, especially in Multan which is one of the hotter places in Pakistan even at this time of the year. But question is do they even know what they are doing wrong right now?

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Babar is only weak against Spinners so for his stat padding pakistan can't lose series per series at home .

Saud , Abdullah ,saim , Rizwan and Agha all are good against spinners to post a competitive score .

Atleast pakistan can take gamble with rank Turner for this series so we can know where they are standing .

Flat pitches are the reason no crowds came to watch test cricket in pakistan.

For Abdullah Shafique to be able to play spin, he has to first survive the new ball. Which he has been failing miserably at recently.

I would like to see nothing more. But it's a question of guts and being fearless, which Pakistan are not.

 

[Devadwal]

Test cricket in Pakistan in the past two years has been so goddamn boring (even the matches that Pakistan lost) that at this point I only want to see a minefield. Don't care if it aids pace or spin. Don't even care if Pakistan get bowled out for 50. Atleast the match will be entertaining to watch.

This is exactly my point.

 

[adi_62941]

Something is seriously wrong in Pakistan team that despite having good abilities and skills they are not able to post performances and win matches. The attitude, intent and thinking of this team is below average. They are not able to think beyond their selections.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Anyone remember the 2005 Pakistan-England Multan test? One of my favourite matches from that era. Shoaib destroyed England with reverse-wing and slow ball yorkers in that series.

 

[Hellion]

You can give Uganda the best pitches that suit them and give them every bit of an unfair advantage and they'll still get mauled by England.

The gap between pakistan and England is sky high.

This is a decent England test squad facing the worst pakistan test squad in history. 2024 pakistan test squad is so bad that 2010, 2023 and 2022 test squad look like all time greats.

Bowler friendly surfaces will reduce the gap. It's a truism in cricket that has been proven over and over again.

Just like World T20 match where Afghanistan beat Australia on a slow, gripping surface.

On a flat pitch , Australia would've buried Afghanistan 10 times out of 10.

Yes, it's different in Test cricket but at least there's a small chance.

Last time, Multan pitch spun the most and that's where PAK got closest to England.

 

[mominsaigol]

Bowler friendly surfaces will reduce the gap. It's a truism in cricket that has been proven over and over again.

Just like World T20 match where Afghanistan beat Australia on a slow, gripping surface.

On a flat pitch , Australia would've buried Afghanistan 10 times out of 10.

Yes, it's different in Test cricket but at least there's a small chance.

Last time, Multan pitch spun the most and that's where PAK got closest to England.

Afghanistan isn't a bad team. Their current level would wash pakistan in any format, that's the thing.

Pakistan is even worse at playing spin then England, much much worse. They legit got bundled out in a day because the 5th day pitch had a slight bit of turn?

Babar and ramiz had to curated an entire pitch just to avoid lamichane spin in pindi?

Sri lanka in their home den killed every batter except Abdullah and saud shakeel? And now after debut, Every team has figured these 2 out anyway, so it won't work again?

Afghanistan on a spin pitch is deadly cause they have a class spin unit, Pur spinners are abrar? And no one else? And abrar is worse then all afghan spinners.

 

[Savak]

Pakistan has no tricks. England has the better spinners and seamers.

 

[offstump]

Anyone remember the 2005 Pakistan-England Multan test? One of my favourite matches from that era. Shoaib destroyed England with reverse-wing and slow ball yorkers in that series.

I watched every ball of this series. It was really peak Woolmer-Inzi. England were coming off an ashes win but were reluctsnt to tour Pakistan. There was some drama too with Shoaib allegedly assaulting Woolmer in the dressing room but that’s the badmashi we all miss from the Pakistan team! His Yorkers and slower balls were something else. Kaneria played a key role in the spin department as well. It was one of the rare occasions where Shoaib didn’t get hurt and played all three tests.

We also destroyed England in the odi portion of the tour. That first odi in Karachi, Razzaq went berserk and took Flintoff to the cleaners. Man, what a time that was to be a Pakistan fan!

 

[sweep_shot]

I expect Root to have a good time. Flat Pakistani pitches may help him get closer to Sachin's record.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

I expect Root to have a good time. Flat Pakistani pitches may help him get closer to Sachin's record.

Pakistan should go for a sharp turning wickets this time... because england will smash them if get any sort of batting friendly tracks.

 

[sweep_shot]

Pakistan should go for a sharp turning wickets this time... because england will smash them if get any sort of batting friendly tracks.

Against SENA countries, Asian teams should always try to dish out spin-friendly pitches.

Pakistan used to win in UAE because those pitches used to assist spinners.

 

[PakHammer]

Have to prepare a spinning track and play to England's macho batting ego. Noman, Abrar, Salman Agha and Ayub will hopefully spin them into a web!

 

[AAli98]

If Rizwan’s saud shakeel Abra don’t perform expect at least 1 innings defeat in the whitewash.

Innings defeat incoming