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Report - 2nd Test, Day 5 : Australia seal a stunning victory as Pakistan collapse at the MCG

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Abdullah719

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Toss: Pakistan won the toss, Misbah-ul-Haq opted to bat first.

Teams

Australia: MT Renshaw, DA Warner, UT Khawaja, SPD Smith (c), PSP Handscomb, NJ Maddinson, MS Wade (wk), MA Starc, JR Hazlewood, NM Lyon, JM Bird.

Pakistan: Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz.

Australia began the day ahead with most thoughts settled on a draw. The hosts had other ideas from the get-go, with Starc taking the attack to Yasir with a few sixes early on to send the signal to the opponents. Pakistan continued in a defensive manner as Smith motored along at the other end. Misbah shuffled the bowlers around but it wasn't of much use. Wahab came on to bowl an aggressive spell but couldn't break through with Misbah missing a run out chance. Azhar came on to bowl and Pakistan's dismal day continued as Sohail dropped a dolly off Starc at long-off, with the batsman rubbing salt in the wounds with a couple of big sixes soon thereafter. Yasir came back to bowl and this time it was Smith who took him for a big six to get to his 150. Starc continued as well, smashing Yasir into the stands for his seventh six. He fell in the next over to Sohail as he went for his eight and was caught in the deep after making 84 off just 91 balls. Lyon came out to bat and played a couple of big shots before getting out to Yasir and that was the end of the innings with a declaration coming at 624/8, Smith finishing at 165*.

Pakistan came out to bat for a short, uncomfortable period before Lunch and the early signs were negative, as Sami limply defended one and was bowled by Hazlewood, as they went to the break at 6/1. Coming back after the interval, there was another wicket straightaway as Starc got one to swing back in with Babar missing it and getting out LBW. Younis came out to bat and the batsmen continued to face a tough time in the middle, with the bowlers getting just enough purchase to trouble the batsmen. Azhar almost played one onto his stumps but it just missed. Younis was positive, looking to score, realising that Pakistan needed to try and overturn the deficit. However, he fell to Lyon as he defended one that bounced and got the inside edge for a catch at short leg after making 24. Misbah came and swept the first ball without success - next ball he repeated the shot, got a top edge and was out caught at short fine-leg with Pakistan now under severe pressure. Shafiq came to bat and survived for a bit but with the clock winding down until Tea, he fell to Lyon as well, inside edging one with Handscomb taking a stunning catch at short leg with Pakistan 91/5 at the interval.

Australia struck a major blow soon after the restart with Azhar Ali adjudged LBW as Hazlewood bowled a short of a length delivery which stayed low - the batsman reviewed but it was just clipping the stumps. Amir and Sarfraz batted with confidence with Sarfraz in particular looking to get runs to try and overturn the deficit while Amir defended solidly from the other end. He played and missed at a few with Australia taking a review for a caught behind as they thought he nicked one, but it was not out. Bird struck two balls later, however, as Amir inside edged one onto his stumps for 11. Starc returned and got the ball to reverse a touch and it soon struck the killer blow with Sarfraz bowled for 43 by one that snaked back in towards the stumps. The pacer struck again in the next over with another superb delivery, this time moving the ball away from Wahab from around the wicket - simply too good. He finished it off in the next over as Yasir looked to flick one and top edged it, getting caught with Pakistan losing by an innings and 18 runs.

Summary: A crushing defeat for Pakistan that will bring back memories of past thrashings Down Under. After Brisbane, morale was high. After this, it will have dropped to extremely low levels. Losing in this manner after putting up 443 in the first innings will be very disappointing. Pakistan continue to show a propensity to collapse when put under pressure with the bat in the dying stages of matches, with it having happened several times recently. Misbah played a very uncharacteristic shot under pressure and seemed to not be in the game and the series is now lost. It will require a massive effort from Pakistan to try and seal a consolation victory as Sydney.

Fall of wickets:

7-608 (Starc, 140.1 ov)
8-624 (Lyon, 141.6 ov)

1-3 (Sami Aslam, 1.4 ov)
2-6 (Babar Azam, 4.1 ov)
3-63 (Younis Khan, 19.1 ov)
4-63 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 19.3 ov)
5-89 (Asad Shafiq, 29.5 ov)
6-101 (Azhar Ali, 34.4 ov)
7-143 (Mohammad Amir, 46.5 ov)
8-153 (Sarfraz Ahmed, 49.6 ov)
9-159 (Wahab Riaz, 51.5 ov)
10-163 (Yasir Shah, 53.2 ov)
 
misbah captaincy has exposed. he was changing the field every 2nd ball like a confused man. it was so embarrassing.

5 out of top 7 not firing. sami fails, babar failure, younis failure, misbah failure, sarfraz failure

Yasir/wahab/sohail all pedestrians. did not bowl any spell threatening.

kon jawab day ga for all these real issues!
 
nothing stunning about it knew this was happening once they declared 180 ahead.
 
fast1975 said:
misbah captaincy has exposed. he was changing the field every 2nd ball like a confused man. it was so embarrassing.

5 out of top 7 not firing. sami fails, babar failure, younis failure, misbah failure, sarfraz failure

Yasir/wahab/sohail all pedestrians. did not bowl any spell threatening.

kon jawab day ga for all these real issues!
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How is Sarfraz a failure?
 
This is the most heartbreaking defeat for me for quite a while now. This defeat is even more heartbreaking than the QF loss to Aus last year for me.

I don't know why but this defeat just hurts a lot! :(
 
I think the title of the thread is all wrong.

Should be

"Australia seal a stunning victory as Misbah's Pakistan familiarly collapse at the MCG".
 
Sadly I could see this coming after Warner's blistering hundred on day 3

Must be very demoralising for the team to lose the game after batting so well in the first innings and despite the weather.

Once again the mental block that our batsmen routinely exhibit when put under pressure in the 4th innings led to defeat. They lack the temperament and discipline needed to bat well in both innings in Australia. The discrepancy between our first and second innings scores in both tests is a stark reminder of that.

Misbah's captaincy was poor and he paid the price for ultra defensive field settings. The bowlers esp. Wahab and Yassir (repeatedly served leg side dollies) were a huge disappointment in this test.

A 4th successive whitewash in Australia looming
 
As usual. Our bowling attack let us down in Australia. Why oh why did they not prepare like they did for England? ? We had zero preparation..you should not lose test matches if yu put up over 400..you just shouldn't. I think it's time for misbah to retire. But what is babar azam doing in this test side? He is not a solid bat. But we lost this match because our bowling was atrocious. It's time to look beyond this bowling attack.
 
Tough pill to swallow. Didn't think we"d win this series, even drawing was a stretch but after the 2nd innings at Brisbane and 1st innings here we showed more solidity in batting than any other Pakistan side touring Australia in years. So to collapse like that is galling and infuriating.

Ultimately we got blitzed by Australia's innings. Major question marks about this bowling attack which even Mitchell Starc was hitting around.

Pakistan yet again succumb to the mental block that's haunted them on every Australia tour. They don't have the skills nor the belief or the adequate preparation needed to win Down Under. The only thing left to play for is pride in Sydney.
 
In retrospect, drawing against the English superstars like Hales and Vince destroyed the Down Under tour.

Pakistan's only chance was for Misbah and Younis to exit and for Mickey Arthur to take complete control of a younger squad, reinforced in the short-term by Australia-specialists like Asif and Butt.

But the "success" in England led to complacency. An insane schedule and a touring party more suited to playing against the West Indies in the UAE.

The danger now is whether Mickey Arthur even holds on to his job to take control.
 
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I think Arthur is already looking around and sowing seeds for future employment (NZ). I think its an open secret that he will be gone soon.
 
Gilly said:
I think Arthur is already looking around and sowing seeds for future employment (NZ). I think its an open secret that he will be gone soon.
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Oh? This is news to me. We are not playing much cricket after the oz tour for the next six months. So that would have been the time to familiarize himself with domestic cricket in Pakistan
 
Well done to Australia.

Absolutely heart breaking defeat we should have been able to get a draw out of this game. Our test team needs rebuilding, Misbah, Younis, sohail, Imran should all be replaced.

Mickey will get his chance to build a team after the 3rd test let's see what he does.
 
Hasan123 said:
Well done to Australia.

Absolutely heart breaking defeat we should have been able to get a draw out of this game. Our test team needs rebuilding, Misbah, Younis, sohail, Imran should all be replaced.

Mickey will get his chance to build a team after the 3rd test let's see what he does.
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Been quite a few of these heartbreakers as of late. Edgbaston still is worse for me. We did everything right for the first two days, got a 100+ lead and still lost. That match was the difference between us winning 3-1 in England and drawing 2-2.

I never expected us to win here, but this defeat is still tough to take.
 
Markhor said:
Been quite a few of these heartbreakers as of late. Edgbaston still is worse for me. We did everything right for the first two days, got a 100+ lead and still lost. That match was the difference between us winning 3-1 in England and drawing 2-2.

I never expected us to win here, but this defeat is still tough to take.
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Yeah, after I got over the anger this defeat was funny in a black comedy way more than anything else. It's Pakistan in Australia, this is what we do.
 
Markhor said:
Been quite a few of these heartbreakers as of late. Edgbaston still is worse for me. We did everything right for the first two days, got a 100+ lead and still lost. That match was the difference between us winning 3-1 in England and drawing 2-2.

I never expected us to win here, but this defeat is still tough to take.
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I think Pakistan need to talk about this openly. That they are a team of chokers. be it vs India in world cups, or batting out a session...or simply not knowing how to react when caught in the middle of a collapse.
The answers wont come by wishing it away. hobart 1999, sydney 2010 (or whatever year it was), and now melbourne 2016. It seems to be across generations.
 
AZulfi said:
Sadly I could see this coming after Warner's blistering hundred on day 3

Must be very demoralising for the team to lose the game after batting so well in the first innings and despite the weather.

Once again the mental block that our batsmen routinely exhibit when put under pressure in the 4th innings led to defeat. They lack the temperament and discipline needed to bat well in both innings in Australia. The discrepancy between our first and second innings scores in both tests is a stark reminder of that.

Misbah's captaincy was poor and he paid the price for ultra defensive field settings. The bowlers esp. Wahab and Yassir (repeatedly served leg side dollies) were a huge disappointment in this test.

A 4th successive whitewash in Australia looming
Click to expand...

It was 3rd innings and there was no pressure to chase just push for draw even if there was no lead.
 
I called this loss last night but am still disappointed
 
JaDed said:
It was 3rd innings and there was no pressure to chase just push for draw even if there was no lead.
Click to expand...

There was pressure to survive which can be as taxing for our (mentally-weak) batsmen as pressure to chase.

List of recent painful collapses:

Hobart 1999
Sydney 2010
Galle 2014
Edgbaston 2016
Hamilton 2016
Melbourne 2016
 
This is the most embarrassing and humiliating loss.

They couldn't last two and a bit sessions? Is this a joke?

Except for Azhar, Amir, Yasir and Sarfraz, all the others should be sacked and thrown away.

Simply pathetic.
 
As soon as the pain of this loss is over, we will start calling the players ATGs .... you just watch. Most of them are Not. We will start comparing our players with the Indians, and our conclusion will be that our players are lot better than the Indians. Well, the Indians are ranked #1, we are not. We have become a Laughing Stock of the Cricket world, yet we have this " we are the best " attitude. We live in the past glory of our real ATGs ..... so sad !!!!!
 
Sadevdesai said:
As soon as the pain of this loss is over, we will start calling the players ATGs .... you just watch. Most of them are Not. We will start comparing our players with the Indians, and our conclusion will be that our players are lot better than the Indians. Well, the Indians are ranked #1, we are not. We have become a Laughing Stock of the Cricket world, yet we have this " we are the best " attitude. We live in the past glory of our real ATGs ..... so sad !!!!!
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We are fans, we are allowed are indulges, we are not expected to be rational all the time
 
The way it all unfolded in this Test in many ways upended the principles upon which Misbah had ambitiously sought to base the vision for his team.

Misbah had identified many of the factors that afflicted Pakistan cricket and unlike most of his predecessors tried hard to find solutions. There was poor fitness, a preference for talent over ‘character’ in selections, a lack of discipline in the bowling and batting inconsistencies. Misbah bravely fought against this over 6 years.

But see how it unraveled at the MCG. There was indiscipline. Wahab dismissed Warner off a no ball. Misbah has always attempted to contain the flow of runs, but in this match the bowlers bowled with such lack of control that the runs gushed out. Sohail Khan was a busted flush because of his lack of fitness. The batting under pressure was blown away like a mud fort in a monsoon. Seen in the context of what Misbah tried to achieve, this was all so cruel.

None of this is an attempt to lessen Misbah’s immense achievements, but rather point to the inherent limitations of the ‘power’ he and indeed any one individual can exercise. If intentions of leaders matter, they are not free-floating. Misbah had to operate in circumstances, not made by him, and which are not easily manipulated and controlled by any one individual.

We often speak about the history individuals make. But sometimes we need to remember the history that makes the individual.
 
its true that pakistan has not done well in australia for many years . They dominated world cricket for a good 10-12 years . The side led by ponting was almost invincible , They had 7-8 match winners in the side and were almost unbeatable anywhere in the world . We also had a very good side probably the second best its a pity we should have done better . the best chance came when aussie needed 360 odd to win in the fourth innings and langer was not given out ( game changer) our bowling was very good at the time but australia was still stronger they had more match winners and there was a lot of difference in the fielding and captaincy of the two sides .

when asif was there we almost won the test when we needed 150 odd to win but as always pakistan capitulated under pressure

This is one of the weakest australian sides ever , they have so many players who are new to the international circuit hardly 3-4 match winners . Our bowlers really let us down today what a shame .. poor bowling / strategy and captaincy
 
To be honest to misbah imo he was never a great batsman nor a great captain . The problem is that unfortunately we dint have any better options available at our disposal . We dont have a captaincy material candidate now either to replace him. To be honest after imran and javed miandad most of the captains that we had were below par and misbah was not an exception either . Our cricket has declined over the years , I wouldnt let the ranking system fool me for one bit , there should be more critical analyzation than just emphasizing on the ranking system . We should have seen it coming and this should have been accepted 3-0 was the most likely result . In the first test match in the uae , we almost lost to the west indiees and we eventually did loose the third test match to the lowly ranked west indiees at home . Then we lost 2-0 to new zealand in swing friendly conditions . In the past the only reason that pakistan bowling was effective in overseas conditions was because our bowlers were good at conventional and reverse swing .

Misbah was a very smart captain since he was somewhat more educated than his predecessors and had prior experience of failures he understood one thing very well . The most of the public that follows cricket in pakistan judges you by 1 thing and that is " runs scored" and batting average . I have seldom seen a player who is as selfish as misbah and all along his career he played for himself and was never a team player . I can not even count the number of " odi" matches that we lost because of his selfishness . He consumed 20-30 balls to get off the mark , his strike rate was 20-25 odd for his first 20 -30 runs and that put enormous pressure on other players and they often capitulated in that pressure created by misbah and guess what when all of them got out , he was the sole person standing on the wicket and he had no pressure on him batting with the tail whatsoever , he was just waiting for the arrival of spin bowling . This is one area where he thrived , this is his strength he is a very good player of spin bowling so he would attack spinners straight away and dominated them , through this process towards the end of the innings he managed to get the strike rate at the 80ish mark and pakistan almost always lost . Cant think of many matches where we won in " odis" with misbah standing towards the end and he had no pressure on him in all those situations . Infact people often said oh misbah is the man he made 60 with a strike rate of 80 odd what else could he have probably done , every one else gave their wicket away etc . what people dont realise is that misbah could not rotate strike at all and the person next to him would be starved of strike for many deliveries and with the run rate climbing all the time had to cover up for misbah and got out in the process .

As far as misbahs test heroics are concerned he did relatively well over there because there was no scoreboard pressure at all . He adviced all his subordinates ( azhar ali / sami aslam/ younis khan ) etc to consume as many deliveries as possible . Pakistan normally operates at 2 to 2.5 runs an over against pace even in " flat dead pitches " on the uae . This has been a trend and probably invented by misbah . So basically after these players consume 50-60 overs of pace bowling , by the time misbah comes to bat the pacers of opposing teams are usually very tired in their third , fourth spells and he blocks blocks and blocks and waits for the spinners to arrive ( knowing that those pacers are usually in their last spells) and not to mention the ball is soft and old in uae barely does anything .

As far as his captaincy goes " he is a terrible captain" as defensive as his playing style . You as an opponent only have to hit a few boundaries and he would go defensive right away . Against a team as attacking as australia you cant go defensive right away , By being defensive on a flat track you are asking for trouble .

To be a little fair to him specially in australia , we dont have the right bowling combinations ..you have to look no further than the averages of these mediocre bowlers that we have . they are extremely unfit as well and cant bowl after the first spell . what pakistan dearly missed was an allrounder even a stock bowlers who could bowl 8-10 overs at 2-3 runs an over to give rest to our pace bowlers . Yasir shah is a leg spinner and will always be an attacking option , there is no way he can contain the batsmen ( he is not a stock bowler) .
He is only good on tracks in the " uae" where the ball keeps low , there is uneven bounce and his variations work because more often than not he has the backing of 400-500 runs that teams have had to chase on a wearing fouth and fifth day pitch . He was really found wanted on these aussie tracks with little help for spinners like yasir shah who are not big turners of the ball .. danish kaneria and mushtaq were much better than him in overseas conditions . One great ability that ajmal had was that he could attack and also defend we do miss his services. The main reason for pakistan doing well in " uae " conditions in the past year or two years is because of younis khan . When he retires pakistan will miss his services in the " uae" for sure and its difficult to replace him . He is a high impact player in test matches , he rotates the strike well and one of his biggest strengths is his ability to occupy the crease for days ( when he gets to 70-80 he gets big hundreds and this is his real strength ) he deflates the opposition . azhar ali and asad shafiq have developed as good players and they are the future . what we need in the test side is more balance , an all rounder stock bowler so that you can rest your unfit ( pacers) without going at 4-5 runs an over and we need to end this era of being super defensive .. you need atleast one aggressive opener .. this is very important so that he can counter the pacers and spoil their line and length and momentum .. very essential..need a balance rite now every one plays the same brand of cricket introduced by misbah tuk tuk tuk ... we will make the opposing pacers tired on these flat uae decks ... i fancy my luck in uae and have a very high record of winning tosses .. we will bat first you guys will consume 50-60 overs so that by the time i come , they are already tired ,ball is not doing much and i can score against their spinners ( bowling on the first and second day) with nothing to offer . If we can have 400 to defend in the last innings and yasir shah bowling on the fift day on a wearing pitch ( un even bounce ) we will almost certainly win ... winnng formula not pretty but effective .

we need some flamboyant players and end this era of tuk tuk tuk and the uae script otherwise we will never be a good team .. sohail khan is garbage .. you need another good bowler to bowl with amir ..its about pairs to maintain pressure and that will get you wickets .. on flat wickets with not much to offer amir alone cant do anything ( he is not a great bowler , please get this misconception out of your heads) he is amongst the best that we have certainly a better than average bowler

why not think out of the box and get an aggressive captain to change player psyche and mentality for a change . I think imad wasim has the potential to be a good captain , he has shown that by playing down the order under pressure . He is aggressive , confident and could he possibly do worst then azhar ali ? azhar ali is a good player without a doubt but not captaincy material ( a deputy of misbah ? he will be worst than misbah ) full defensive
 
Markhor said:
Been quite a few of these heartbreakers as of late. Edgbaston still is worse for me. We did everything right for the first two days, got a 100+ lead and still lost. That match was the difference between us winning 3-1 in England and drawing 2-2.

I never expected us to win here, but this defeat is still tough to take.
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Edgbaston was very heart breaking as we were neck and neck with England for most of the game but not to even get a draw was frustrating and heart breaking. This game was a simple draw that's why it's so heart breaking, there was nothing in this pitch yet we collapse in 2 sessions.
 
raw ? are you sure ? defeat was very likely when they gave us a lead of 180 that was it . Yesterday i did two things

1) check the weather forecast for fourth and fifth day ( i was hoping there werent too many overs left ) and as per the forecast the fifth day was clear . when they managed to get 40 ahead by the end of the fourth day. the only way we could have avoided defeat was bowling them out for a leaf of max 60-70 anything beyond that would have always been a struggle

2) in australia pakistan has capitulated under pressure chasing a similar target on many occasions so it was not unlikely

3) pakstan actually got demoralized .. i cant blame the batsman for once ..our bowling sucks period , we have very average bowlers .. the only reason that we win in uae is because of spin our pacers are ineffective their as well . once yasir shah was neutralized we were always gg to get into trouble

4) ultra defensive field settings by misbah also contributed to the loss hugely . the team was completely demoralized . how many teams would make 450 odd , declare and be faced with the proposition of surviving the match on the 5th day . considering almost a day and a half was lost due to rain . they dint only score 624 , they scored it at a rapid pace ..5 runs an over in test match is a feat in itself ..shame on **** bowlers and poor captaincy of misbah

this was the best chance to draw a match and lose the 13 match consecutive losses streak
 
KB said:
The way it all unfolded in this Test in many ways upended the principles upon which Misbah had ambitiously sought to base the vision for his team.

Misbah had identified many of the factors that afflicted Pakistan cricket and unlike most of his predecessors tried hard to find solutions. There was poor fitness, a preference for talent over ‘character’ in selections, a lack of discipline in the bowling and batting inconsistencies. Misbah bravely fought against this over 6 years.

But see how it unraveled at the MCG. There was indiscipline. Wahab dismissed Warner off a no ball. Misbah has always attempted to contain the flow of runs, but in this match the bowlers bowled with such lack of control that the runs gushed out. Sohail Khan was a busted flush because of his lack of fitness. The batting under pressure was blown away like a mud fort in a monsoon. Seen in the context of what Misbah tried to achieve, this was all so cruel.

None of this is an attempt to lessen Misbah’s immense achievements, but rather point to the inherent limitations of the ‘power’ he and indeed any one individual can exercise. If intentions of leaders matter, they are not free-floating. Misbah had to operate in circumstances, not made by him, and which are not easily manipulated and controlled by any one individual.

We often speak about the history individuals make. But sometimes we need to remember the history that makes the individual.
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well said.

would you like him to continue?
 
Was embarrassing, that's three times now we have stupidly collapsed when an easy draw was on offer in recent memory. England (where we could have won the series if we didn't), NZ and Aus. Kind of sad. Dunno what we should do about it or how to fix it. When the pressure is on the batting (and even the bowling to an extent) tend to fail time and time again.
 
FlickedOffHips said:
well said.

would you like him to continue?
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Misbah at the press conference gave clear indication that he now doubts his own batting. That is quite a strong indication that he feels the end is upon him. On top of that 6 years is a long time to be captain. He has performed an admirable job with a quiet dignity, that few of his loud mouth critics are able to realise, much less emulate. But he has taken the team as far as he can. It is time to go.
 
Junaids said:
In retrospect, drawing against the English superstars like Hales and Vince destroyed the Down Under tour.

Pakistan's only chance was for Misbah and Younis to exit and for Mickey Arthur to take complete control of a younger squad, reinforced in the short-term by Australia-specialists like Asif and Butt.

But the "success" in England led to complacency. An insane schedule and a touring party more suited to playing against the West Indies in the UAE.

The danger now is whether Mickey Arthur even holds on to his job to take control.
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One can ignore the 2005 tour because he was a rookie, but what was the performance of the Australia-specialist Asif in 2009-10?

Apart from the green Sydney pitch where Sami initiated the first innings collapse by bowling like Steyn, I recall Asif trundling on the flat Melbourne and Hobart wickets without much of an impact. 1-2 wickets in 25-30 overs per innings doesn't win you Tests.

It would have been no different this time. Asif would not have improved the bowling attack to the extent that the outcome of the series would have been altered.

The problem is that this is pure revisionism. Had Amir not been picked on this tour, you would have named him as your third Australia-specialist who would have won Pakistan the series, based on his 5 wickets on the flat MCG pitch 7 years ago.

Butt, Asif and Umar Akmal in place of Sami, Sohail/Imran and Younis would not have changed the outcome of the series and that's a fact.
 
Mamoon said:
One can ignore the 2005 tour because he was a rookie, but what was the performance of the Australia-specialist Asif in 2009-10?

Apart from the green Sydney pitch where Sami initiated the first innings collapse by bowling like Steyn, I recall Asif trundling on the flat Melbourne and Hobart wickets without much of an impact. 1-2 wickets in 25-30 overs per innings doesn't win you Tests.

It would have been no different this time. Asif would not have improved the bowling attack to the extent that the outcome of the series would have been altered.

The problem is that this is pure revisionism. Had Amir not been picked on this tour, you would have named him as your third Australia-specialist who would have won Pakistan the series, based on his 5 wickets on the flat MCG pitch 7 years ago.

Butt, Asif and Umar Akmal in place of Sami, Sohail/Imran and Younis would not have changed the outcome of the series and that's a fact.
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Mohammad Asif averaged 28 on the last tour of Australia. Amir averaged over 40, as do all the Pakistan quicks this year.

Salman Butt scored 280 runs and Umar Akmal scored 199. By this stage - after the Second Test - both had scored more runs than Misbah and Younis combined have this team (or Misbah had last time).

Past records in a country matter. They tell you how well a player's technique fits the conditions.

Salman Butt and Umar Akmal both have two good tours of Australia behind them (if you count Akmal's two A Test centuries). Asif averaged 28 with the ball last time.

While Amir averaged over 40 and Misbah had to be dropped last time.

And you ignore the absurdity of selecting two batsmen as old as Younis and Misbah. Michael Vaughan is younger than both and had a much better record in Australia. Should England pick him for next year's Ashes?

The absurdity of selecting Michael Vaughan mirrors the absurdity of picking his contemporaries, Younis and Misbah.
 
Junaids said:
Mohammad Asif averaged 28 on the last tour of Australia. Amir averaged over 40, as do all the Pakistan quicks this year.

Salman Butt scored 280 runs and Umar Akmal scored 199. By this stage - after the Second Test - both had scored more runs than Misbah and Younis combined have this team (or Misbah had last time).

Past records in a country matter. They tell you how well a player's technique fits the conditions.

Salman Butt and Umar Akmal both have two good tours of Australia behind them (if you count Akmal's two A Test centuries). Asif averaged 28 with the ball last time.

While Amir averaged over 40 and Misbah had to be dropped last time.

And you ignore the absurdity of selecting two batsmen as old as Younis and Misbah. Michael Vaughan is younger than both and had a much better record in Australia. Should England pick him for next year's Ashes?

The absurdity of selecting Michael Vaughan mirrors the absurdity of picking his contemporaries, Younis and Misbah.
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If Vaughan was still playing and performing in England, with England lacking alternatives, he would be on board to Australia.

It was established long ago that Younis and Misbah are not going to succeed in Australia. However, dropping them when they were still on top of their game in the UAE was not a realistic proposition.

Asif averaged 28 but it had everything to do with the green Sydney pitch. He was mediocre on the grassless surfaces of the MCG and Hobart and he would have been mediocre on the grassless surfaces in this series, regardless of the colour of the ball.
 
Utter shambles that second innings.

One of the worst batting displays from a Pakistan Test team for a very long time.
 
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