Post-mortem of a loss: Why did Pakistan lose the 1st Test against England in 'Pindi?

[dildilpak]

We know for a fact that previous domestic matches here were played on lively pitches. So don’t buy the argument that it is just the nature of the ground.

Some claim that Babar Azam wanted a flat pitch. Hard to believe given he knows that Pak needs to win almost all games to qualify for WTC final. And this Eng attack is no Aussie attack that he needed to have such a defensive mindset.

Did Rambo just want a game that went the full distance for commercial reasons?

Maybe it was just terrible execution where the groundsman cut the grass to enable the pitch to deteriorate faster? But didn’t play out that way for whatever reason.

What do you think happened? I am really puzzled as I can’t for the life of me understand how we end up with a pitch like this in what was almost a must win game.

 

[MenInG]

Pakistan played with the wrong spin bowler, batting did not look threatening at all.

 

[Savak]

Poor approach with the bat in the second innings, too much respect given too Anderson and Robinson in the first session and third session on the final day.

Also the bowlers and the captain were stunned and totally unprepared for Bazball. It's one thing to watch it on tv and another to experience it, bowlers and captains need to get into ODI and T20 death overs mindset.

Keep experimenting with different tactics ie bowl the wide outside the off stump yorker with a packed off side field. Bowl the Bharat Arun ruthless off middle stump full or short of a length line length with a packed leg side field, leg slip and deep square leg, go around the wicket and target the ribs of the English batters with a packed leg side field and a fielder at deep square leg.

You can't keep a traditional test match line and length and a traditional field against Bazball. The Pakistani team management, the bowlers and Shaun Tait need to plan well to counter England's Bazball approach, getting the English batsmen out throwing away their wickets, neutralizing the bazball approach is vital to coming back into the series.

Please note the above suggestions are mostly applicable to the dead rawalpindi type tracks, if the PCB can come up with a rank turner or green wicket for the remaining test matches then just bowl normally.

 

[Maliq_Mudasir]

Poor bowling selection against best batting line up.

 

[adi_62941]

Should have set mental pressure on english batters by playing abrar. English batters always afraid from unconventional spin.

 

[PakistanMeriJaan]

The sheer lack of cojones in our planning, approach and execution cant be downplayed and unnoticed. Regardless of what their intentions were Pakistan played way too conservatively. Injuries aside, from start to finish England played for a result whereas Pakistan seemed to played for a draw. We are badly in need of a change in our approach to modern cricket.

 

[Mamoon]

Naseem & Rauf.

They conceded 284 runs in 46.5 overs at an economy rate of 6.11. That is utterly embarrassing for two hyped up fast bowlers.

No pitch is bad enough to justify a thrashing like this. They got out bowled by a 40 year old Anderson & got badly exposed for the mediocre bowlers & one trick ponies that they are.

Even if they would have gone at 4 an over, Pakistan would have covered up the deficit of 74 runs.

 

[Savak]

Naseem & Rauf.

They conceded 284 runs in 46.5 overs at an economy rate of 6.11. That is utterly embarrassing for two hyped up fast bowlers.

No pitch is bad enough to justify a thrashing like this. They got out bowled by a 40 year old Anderson & got badly exposed for the mediocre bowlers & one trick ponies that they are.

Even if they would have gone at 4 an over, Pakistan would have covered up the deficit of 74 runs.

England did not spare any bowler in our team. Zahid Mehmood conceeded a six and a boundary every over. You cannot single out Naseem and Rauf (who was making his debut and then got injured later on).

 

[Mamoon]

England did not spare any bowler in our team. Zahid Mehmood conceeded a six and a boundary every over. You cannot single out Naseem and Rauf (who was making his debut and then got injured later on).

Zahid Mehmood is not hyped up as the second coming of Shane Warne. Everyone knows he is very average & will have a very brief international career.

Naseem & Rauf are hyped to the moon & viewed as superstars & this is what they produced. Utterly embarrassing. Both were badly exposed & should be dropped from the team after this humiliation.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

Test side is just not good enough. From that loss to Windies at Sharjah in 2016, Pakistan's Test cricket has been absolutely mediocre and on par with SL and Windies.

Clear gulf in quality between SENA/India and the rest in this format.

 

[SpiritOf1903]

Pakistan were never going to be able to cope with England's aggressive approach. They wilted as they often do

 

[wrongun]

Zahid Mehmood is not hyped up as the second coming of Shane Warne. Everyone knows he is very average & will have a very brief international career.

Naseem & Rauf are hyped to the moon & viewed as superstars & this is what they produced. Utterly embarrassing. Both were badly exposed & should be dropped from the team after this humiliation.

They are both inexperienced players.

Inexperienced bowlers especially are vulnerable to this sort of attack and often flounder in the face of it.

I remember Warne copping an absolute pasting from Ravi Shastri in his first couple of Tests, Shastri injured his leg and couldn't run so he just hammered Warne for boundaries for fun. It was almost cruel. And at that stage of his career, Warne didn't have enough resources to cope with it.

The answer was NOT to drop Shane Warne on the scrapheap. But to realise it takes time to invest in quality players. I'd suggest Rauf and Naseem are still near the best of what you have available. Replace the other seamer if you must sack a bowler for the batsmen's failings.

 

[wrongun]

Pakistan were never going to be able to cope with England's aggressive approach. They wilted as they often do

Your combined Test attack had <50 wickets among them. They were the perfect target for Bazball. Teams often target the rookie. Your attack was all rookie.

 

[Xoib]

They are both inexperienced players.

Inexperienced bowlers especially are vulnerable to this sort of attack and often flounder in the face of it.

I remember Warne copping an absolute pasting from Ravi Shastri in his first couple of Tests, Shastri injured his leg and couldn't run so he just hammered Warne for boundaries for fun. It was almost cruel. And at that stage of his career, Warne didn't have enough resources to cope with it.

The answer was NOT to drop Shane Warne on the scrapheap. But to realise it takes time to invest in quality players. I'd suggest Rauf and Naseem are still near the best of what you have available. Replace the other seamer if you must sack a bowler for the batsmen's failings.

Thank you. Finally a post that is based on rational judgment instead of irrational hate
or deluded cheerleading.

No team is ready for bazball and it can throw you off guard when it hits you first time on a flat pitch especially. Instead of making whole sale changes maybe just replace Zahid as his record in FC is poor and never deserved a place back the young pacers and give them a better pitch

 

[jiduguravindra]

Captaincy!!

 

[Major]

Batting sucked. An opposition scored at 6 rr and you couldnt bat out even by being slowed comparitively.

Ben stokes captaincy won this game.

There was no way palistan should had lost that chasing. Azhar ali disappointed we dont have batters that can bat like misbah for long innings

 

[Double Trouble]

Well said Major misbah was a very underrated batsman

The less said about Azhar the better

 

[AamchiMumbaikar]

By allowing them to score 7 rpo in a test match!

 

[gani999]

Naseem & Rauf.

They conceded 284 runs in 46.5 overs at an economy rate of 6.11. That is utterly embarrassing for two hyped up fast bowlers.

No pitch is bad enough to justify a thrashing like this. They got out bowled by a 40 year old Anderson & got badly exposed for the mediocre bowlers & one trick ponies that they are.

Even if they would have gone at 4 an over, Pakistan would have covered up the deficit of 74 runs.

In a test match, once the side batting first gets 600+ runs in the first innings there's nothing the other side can do other than play catch up. Pakistan could have at best played for a draw here.

The PCB should prepare a lively pitch for the next test. Quick wickets on the first day are absolutely essential.

 

[Amjid Javed]

What went wrong?

- pathetic dead pitch ordeded
- just like Aussie game at Rawalpindi we decided to pick 4 bowlers on dead surface
- Agha salman aint hafeez / malik type player, his bowling is attrocious and his battings no better
- fielding such an inexperienced bowling attack was asking for trouble
- garbage Azhar Ali retained, dropped vs SL and then recalled and bottled it
- Babars garbage captaincy
- Negative team mindset
- 1 spinner picked is leg spinner, if you have only 4 bowlers then you spinner either has to be a wicket taker or have control to tie down an end. Other the warne or kumble not many leg spinners have shown that ability in a 4 man attack
- Pathetic squad picked which is unbalanced and doesnt look ideal for conditions pakistsan wanted to play in
- T20 bowlers selected for a test match

The dumb reasons are endless.

 

[Stewie]

A lot went wrong which was papered over by a decent batting performance in the first innings but this was a disaster of a test for Pakistan in terms of so many things. Pitch, selection, performance, captaincy, etc.

They need to take a very long and hard look at our test setup and decide exactly how they want to proceed. Tests cannot be a mere afterthought to T20s. There needs to be proper planning, preparation, etc. It is perhaps best to keep it entirely separate from the white ball set up. They need to pick a new captain, perhaps a different coach for the test team as well.

 

[jnaveen1980]

In a test match, once the side batting first gets 600+ runs in the first innings there's nothing the other side can do other than play catch up. Pakistan could have at best played for a draw here.

The PCB should prepare a lively pitch for the next test. Quick wickets on the first day are absolutely essential.

They got ambushed.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Pakistan needs double-century makers. Once you are set you should never get out here. England could do that because they have like 8 batsmen.

 

[Barragan]

- Biggest mistake was to not prepare a turning track

- Playing the mediocre zahid ahead of Abrar

- Persisting with Azhar

- Not playing Nawaz and Faheem ahead of agha and one of the pacemen

 

[pratiktc]

Yes bowling was third class but end of the day Pak was one good inns short of chasing the score down.

That should have come from Babar. He got out on 4th evening and 5th day first session Pak batters played like zombies.

Many structural issues with team , but great players are the ones who paper over all the cracks for their team.

Babar could have won this game for Pak and didn't.

 

[muqarrab]

We know for a fact that previous domestic matches here were played on lively pitches. So don’t buy the argument that it is just the nature of the ground.

Some claim that Babar Azam wanted a flat pitch. Hard to believe given he knows that Pak needs to win almost all games to qualify for WTC final. And this Eng attack is no Aussie attack that he needed to have such a defensive mindset.

Did Rambo just want a game that went the full distance for commercial reasons?

Maybe it was just terrible execution where the groundsman cut the grass to enable the pitch to deteriorate faster? But didn’t play out that way for whatever reason.

What do you think happened? I am really puzzled as I can’t for the life of me understand how we end up with a pitch like this in what was almost a must win game.

You need to take 20 wickets, before we call out batting (which was problematic).

Do you think the attack we put together coupled with any lack of imagination is field placings and support staff not even doing the bare minimum, gave us any chance of taking 20 wickets?

 

[Saj]

Scored nearly 600 in the first innings and still lost.

The bowling was poor but I was more annoyed with the batting in the second innings. They were confused, almost unsure of what to do and panicked. 40s and 50s are not going to save you or win you Test matches.

 

[giri26]

1. Pakistan knew very well what England's approach will be yet they decided to give them a placid track to play on.
2. There was no plan as to how to counter England's plan to attack.
3. The bowling had a sameness which was easier for England to counter.
4. Letting England get away and score at 7 runs per over in the first innings.

The above 4 reasons caused Pakistan's loss. Mostly when two teams score 1200+ runs in the first innings of a test, there isn't much time to force a result but England scoring at 7 runs an over helped them to have enough time to force a result. Pakistan may not be able to stop England's aggressive batting but need to keep the runrate in check. They cannot allow a team in Tests to score at that rate. The best way is to gamble with a wicket which either spins or helps pacers and hope they can outplay England. I think the problem is that Pakistan batting is suspect against pace and also spin and I am not sure Pakistan has good enough spinners to trouble England either.

 

[Amjid Javed]

Scored nearly 600 in the first innings and still lost.

The bowling was poor but I was more annoyed with the batting in the second innings. They were confused, almost unsure of what to do and panicked. 40s and 50s are not going to save you or win you Test matches.

In the Last 5 Test matches pakistan have had to chase totals and reality is we could have lost all 5 of these tests, we have ended up with 1 win, 1 draw and 3 defeats which is pretty poor. The telling fact in all 5 of those game Unless Babar and Abdullah Shaffique fired the rest of the batting just doesnt show the bottle to fight, graft or construct runs in a run chase. As soon as Babar / Shaffique were out early there was zero chance of winning the game, the rest of the batting just have a habit of getting a few runs with no real purpose and then getting out.

In those 5 Tests scores

Abdullah 96, 81, 160, 16 ,
Imam 1, 11 , 35 , 49, 48
Azhar 6, 78 , 40
Babar 196, 67, 55 , 81 , 4
Fawad 9, 11, 4
Agha 12 , 1 , 30
Rizwan 104,1, 40 , 37 , 46
Saud 76

 

[Bewal Express]

- Biggest mistake was to not prepare a turning track

- Playing the mediocre zahid ahead of Abrar

- Persisting with Azhar

- Not playing Nawaz and Faheem ahead of agha and one of the pacemen

Unless we under prepare wickets, our wickets don't turn like those in Ind, SL or BD. There is little wear and tear and even by the 5th day, they are like 2nd wickets

 

[Savak]

Chasing in the 4th innings is not an impossibility anymore. Its been done by the likes of England, South Africa, Australia before.

Pakistan needs to get out of this mentality that just because you have to chase 300 runs plus in the 4th innings, the match is automatically lost.

 

[MenInG]

Danish Kaneria:

“Abhi hamari management ake baat karegi, Babar Azam baat karenge, PCB k head baat karenge ‘acchi cricket kheli England ne, hume unse seekhna chaie. Toh seekho na. Kab seekhoge? Time Guzar jayega. (Now our management will talk, Babar Azam and PCB chief will say ‘England played well, we should learn from them’. Then learn, when will you? It’s already too late),”

“They might blame Shaheen Afridi’s absence for the loss. If he’s not available, then dusre achar bechne aaye thhe? (Others came to sell pickles?) Where are the planning and strategy, where is the reverse swing?”

“We only talk about the revival of international cricket in Pakistan. Pura din wahi manjan chal raha hota hai (the same discussion continues the entire day). Pakistan were clueless. Babar Azam should learn from Ben Stokes’ captaincy. Coaches around the world should also learn from Brendon McCullum. Their team doesn’t fear loss, but ours does,”

“Our management fears losses. They only say that the team has been doing good. We are the No. 1 team. How can the Asia Cup happen without us? etc., but we don’t check where our cricket is heading. We made the wicket which was called dead rubber in Rawalpindi"

 

[Ahmed216]

Joke captain and coach who love mediocrity and are unwilling to listen to anyone. Zahid Mahmood over Abrar was one of the worst selections I’ve ever seen. Coach’s justification that Zahid has been in waiting list longer than Abrar is absolutely illogical

 

[Barragan]

Unless we under prepare wickets, our wickets don't turn like those in Ind, SL or BD. There is little wear and tear and even by the 5th day, they are like 2nd wickets

Completely disagree.

They managed to do it during the SA series.

So, why is it harder to prepare those same turning pitches now?

Clearly, it is all done on the instructions of the chairman, captain, management etc. as you will also be aware yourself.

 

[Extra_Cover]

It's quite clear that England's thinktank/management won them the game whilst Pakistan's management was clueless.

We have had extreme management personalities in this game where at one end of spectrum we have a management that is risk-taking, brave, very smart cricketing minds, good game ethic and winning attitude. On other end of spectrum we have a management that is totally risk-averse, timid, insecure about positions and playing not to lose. The deserving one won the game.

I simply have to admire Ben Stokes and the management in this game. What an attitude towards test cricket. Hats off to them. From Day 1 once they knew the track is as placid as it can be they capitalised by playing aggressive cricket and Pakistan team were struck with lightning and didn't knew how to react to it. No one on field or off it had any idea what strategy to put in place so they continued in same manner and by end of the day 500 was on board.

Then the next stroke of genius from Stoke was to use a bouncer ploy at the start of second innings of Pakistan. Again Pakistan were like deer caught in headlights with no brains working at all in that situation. Pakistan expected normal line and length bowling to blunt out but no they were totally surprised. By the end of that ploy Pakistan were 2 down and 1 retired hurt. Its important to note bouncer ploy was being applied by Stokes and Robinson, now just imagine had they used Wood for this ploy. Had Wood been used the game would have been pretty much over on day 4 itself.

Its remarkable captaincy, mindset and management that helped England win first test so all credit goes to them. They declared and set a winning target for Pakistan which was well within reach. To complicate matters further England only had 3 main bowlers who had to defend this target (Anderson, Robinson and Leach) on a very placid/lifeless track. It takes incredible guts to do this declaration if you take full picture into account. Brave team won at the end of the day.

 

[Marooned]

The pitch never gave us any chance. It played right into the strengths of bazball without ever presenting an obstacle.

Complete madness to come up with this metalled road against specialist hitters.

Our best bet would have been to make the pitch as lively as possible for seamers. On a lively Pindi surface, Bazball would've backfired.

 

[Plumb]

Defensive mindset, dragging the opponent and making them tired mentality won't work now.

We have been playing that kind of cricket for over a decade now. Need to have good SR in test cricket too. We simply play deadball on straight ball and this wont work with england. To be honest this england win in Pindi is a slap on the face of that defensive mindset. "Eng dont play to draw the game but they play for win" such great mindset they have...

We just go for saving test match from day one. Keep relying on duds like Azhar Ali who plays at the SR of 30s that's just making test cricket boring.

Babar said they wanted spin track that's such a cover up story... If they wanted spin track why they played only 1 spinner... answer that Captain. All in all its embarrassing to watch the mindset of pak cricket team.

We embarrassed ourselves in Two Worldcup have it not for Harris to comeout and play brave cricket we wouldn't have made to finals.

 

[ZafarKhan2022]

We are discussing the same things about Pakistan's first class issues that we were discussing on Pakpassion 15 years ago. "Domestic pitches need to improve...kookaburra ball...duke ball...domestic structure" blah blah blah nothing ever improves or changes in Pakistan.

 

[Bewal Express]

Completely disagree.

They managed to do it during the SA series.

So, why is it harder to prepare those same turning pitches now?

Clearly, it is all done on the instructions of the chairman, captain, management etc. as you will also be aware yourself.

I don't think the Saffers wicket turned much. They turned no more than English wickets

 

[Plumb]

We are discussing the same things about Pakistan's first class issues that we were discussing on Pakpassion 15 years ago. "Domestic pitches need to improve...kookaburra ball...duke ball...domestic structure" blah blah blah nothing ever improves or changes in Pakistan.

will be discussing that next 50 yrs too...

 

[shamaan]

They lost becouse they played the wrong combination and to many soft dismissals.

 

[Barragan]

I don't think the Saffers wicket turned much. They turned no more than English wickets

Nowhere near close to the same pitches!!

George Linde picked up a 5-fer and he is a part-time spinner.

Not even regular spinners could do anything on this pitch.

 

[Bewal Express]

Nowhere near close to the same pitches!!

George Linde picked up a 5-fer and he is a part-time spinner.

Not even regular spinners could do anything on this pitch.

More to do with the poor quality of batting than any turning wickets.

 

[Sarwar89]

We are discussing the same things about Pakistan's first class issues that we were discussing on Pakpassion 15 years ago. "Domestic pitches need to improve...kookaburra ball...duke ball...domestic structure" blah blah blah nothing ever improves or changes in Pakistan.

Deep reality is
We lack top level talent. Under Misbah we had decent run in Tests, after that it is all sea.

People forget even in UAE we started to lose tests regularly
Particularly capitulation against New zealand twice in Abu Dhabi was hall mark of the team and a year earlier against Sri lanka in UAE as well where i think 134 was not chased by us.

 

[JibranAnsari]

Its ok to lose if you compete well.

pakistan played a spinner who took 13 wickets this season @ 46 apiece and ignored the one who took 5 fivers and 2 10fers this season. He might have failed but there was more the chance of him doing well than zahid mehmood. Pakistan has a part time spinner as their second spinner.

Two of our top order batsmen , babar and abdullah succumbed to short balls on this pitch which is not good. Azhar ali is finished. Saud shakil was on debut so he could be excused for this match.

Pakistan management will repeat their mistake , they will play mohammad wasim who has a bowling average of 40 plus in FC cricket. Zahid will get another go because he got 4 wickets in an innings. Azhar ali has experience so no one can kick him out. Babar azam will continue to be clueless on the field.

 

[Mamoon]

We are discussing the same things about Pakistan's first class issues that we were discussing on Pakpassion 15 years ago. "Domestic pitches need to improve...kookaburra ball...duke ball...domestic structure" blah blah blah nothing ever improves or changes in Pakistan.

That is the reality but fans cannot do anything but hope that things will improve.

The reality is that Pakistan will never be a top team. Not every sporting team is capable of being one or knows how to be one.

Pakistan falls in the same bracket. It is destined for perpetual mediocrity. If we knew how to be a top team, we would have found a way by now.

 

[Barragan]

More to do with the poor quality of batting than any turning wickets.

Nope, definitely the pitch was turning.

You can keep denying that the SA series pitches were the same as this one, but they were not.

To conclude, the same type of turning pitches need to be made like the SA series one.

 

[Saj]

I hope I'm wrong but it could be another post-mortem in a few days time, unless the Multan weather intervenes.