The reasons for Pakistan's dismal performance on the tour of New Zealand (2020/21)

[freezerburn]

These may seem like obvious points but wanted to share some of my observations:

Skill Gap: it may seem like minnow thrashing, but the gap in skill is not so large as it seems. Dropped catches, poor preparation and Nadeem shah was the difference mainly

Pitch engineering: the SENA teams have truly advanced pitch engineering for a huge advantage over Asian teams. Pak pitches have remained the same in bounce, maybe gotten quicker over the years but a gap remains.

Batting difference: runs require quick feet rather than correct feet and leaving the ball on length. Rizwan did well despite huge bat pad gaps but quick feet. Azhar almost scored a century by leaving the ball purely on length

Swing vs length: not sure if the latest QeA trophy had huge swing bowling, but SENA pitches reward length rather than swing bowling. Pak approach to swing bowling needs to change if playing overseas.

Angled bats: majority of pak batsmen defended the ball towards cover and paid the price. This may work on slow pitches but not when the ball is rising steeply. Defend straight or leave the ball

Bowling Experience: we all talk about opening pairs, but the top test teams each have a pair of experienced bowlers (Southee-Boult, Broad-Anderson, Starc-Cummings). Since Waqar-Wasim, there have been no settled bowling pairs for Pak, but a lot of hope and potential bowlers instead. Test bowling requires experience more than pure skill.

I think fans should not be too hard on the teams as it’s tough touring overseas, but look for signs of improvement. This team will continue to be garbage overseas for then foreseeable future

 

[BreadPakoda]

Agree with some of your points. About pitch tailoring, however, what kind of pitch does Pakistan need to win in NZ?

 

[BreadPakoda]

I feel NZ pitches and conditions suit Pakistani pacers. At least more than say Australian/SA pitches.

 

[freezerburn]

Agree with some of your points. About pitch tailoring, however, what kind of pitch does Pakistan need to win in NZ?

I would say pitches with less swing early on, more consistent yet springy bounce. Pak pitches rely on a grass cover, which quickens the pitch and promoted swing early on. As grass dies on day 4/5, the pitch cracks much faster. Overseas pitches have a little less grass, yet due to proper pitch engineering don’t dry as fast, ball shapes a little all day, bounce stays consistent - a bowler needs to hit length much more accurately - generalizing of course as every overseas pitch is different.

 

[freezerburn]

I feel NZ pitches and conditions suit Pakistani pacers. At least more than say Australian/SA pitches.

Agree with you there. The pitch from the 2nd test was almost perfect for a good quality bowler.

 

[Savak]

Bowling single handedly lost this series for Pakistan unfortunately which is a huge cause for concern as bowling was supposed to be our plus point.

You can't blame the Pakistani batsmen beyond a certain point because if the bowlers keep conceding 400-500-600 runs per innings, batsmen will succumb to scoreboard pressure.

Bowlers will need to be put on notice and either dropped, replaced or told they have to improve because what they are producing atm is not good enough at all

 

[MenInG]

Inability to win key battles.

I know the fielding was bad but Pakistan had the runchase in control in the 1st Test - they just couldnt finish the job and that, just like the Old Trafford Test cost us.

That is the difference between us and better teams

 

[NoBallZombie]

The biggest issue is lack of application both from batsmen and bowlers. Our batsmen are extremely loose outside the off stump. Add the lack of situational awareness, that makes it a recipe for disaster. Take for example azhar Ali. We have been talking about how he used to fall over in the last series, he made a slight adjustment and he started to look more solid ... he reverted to the same problem in the first innings of the first test before making the adjustment again... and azhar is generally very good at leaving balls. If you look at someone like shan or haris, they continuously spar at wide deliveries even before they settle in (say go past 30 runs) ... they have the skills to bat long but no intelligence.

Same is the case with bowling... throughout this series, I don’t remember a single incident where I could say the bowlers were bowling to a plan... compare them with kiwi bowling and we would see that Kane was setting intelligent fields such as leg slips and silly mid on just to put pressure and pry out wickets and his attack was bowling to that field. Someone like abbas, I could never workout whether he is a plan (or lack thereof) .... being a spearhead he just seems to trundle in and hope for the best

 

[shamaan]

Bowling single handedly lost this series for Pakistan unfortunately which is a huge cause for concern as bowling was supposed to be our plus point.

You can't blame the Pakistani batsmen beyond a certain point because if the bowlers keep conceding 400-500-600 runs per innings, batsmen will succumb to scoreboard pressure.

Bowlers will need to be put on notice and either dropped, replaced or told they have to improve because what they are producing atm is not good enough at all

What about the fielding ? How many opportunities did the bowlers create

 

[Ahmed216]

Lack of talent . Usually teams make up for lack of talent and skills through fight and determination and tact but unfortunately we lack these qualities too

 

[mazkhan]

Bowling lost it along with the fielding dropped catches.

Bowling coach who should be sacked ASAP and who unashamedly left the team for second test throwing his proteges under the bus.
The bowling coach is the biggest leach and freeloader around