It’s hard to win many Test matches when the team scores little over 300 for the loss of 20 wickets in little over two days. Pakistan’s batting approach on a seaming Christchurch deck was almost as unfavourable for the team’s cause as the lack of preparedness. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake forced the only practice game to be called off, meaning that an underprepared Pakistan continued to feel the aftershocks in Christchurch.
That Sohail Khan was the top-scorer (40!) for Pakistan in both innings combined, highlighted where the batting went amiss. The Pakistani batsmen’s dogged defensive approach, which indubitably has worked wonders for them in the UAE and the Subcontinental conditions, is not the way to go about things Down Under. In New Zealand conditions, especially when the ball is moving around, you need to make sure you put the bad ball away. For it’s almost an impossible task to consume eons and hope to capitalise on your stay at the crease later on. This was what happened to Azhar Ali in the second innings.
Asad Shafiq ducks under a bouncer
A 2-0 whitewash (away) from New Zealand would also impact the team's performance in Australia
It’s hard to know if the decision to go with Babar Azam at 3 and Asad Shafiq at 6 had the latter’s input or if it was the management’s call. For, after finally being promoted to number 3, Asad - who is touted as the most technically solid Pakistani Test batsman of his generation - would have expected more of a run at one-down. But after a mixed series against West Indies in the UAE, maybe he might have preferred going back to 4-down where he has scored all his runs.
It was always going to be hard for Babar Azam to slot into the team in the given conditions. But he did give us glimpses of what he can do in his 29 in the second innings. And with Misbah-ul-Haq out of the second Test, Babar Azam would have an even more important role to play at Hamilton.
Younis Khan jumps out of the way of a bouncer
Younis Khan was the biggest disappointment, offering next to no resistance in either of the two innings. His experience was always going to be vital for Pakistan to have any chance Down Under. And it is he who will have to anchor the batting in the second Test against New Zealand and the Australia series, for Pakistan to make the needed comeback.
It’s hard to fault the bowlers when the batsmen barely gave them anything to play with. And the seamers did manage to peg New Zealand back after bowling them for 200. In the given conditions, Mohammed Amir, Rahat Ali and Sohail Khan were probably the best options for a three-pronged pace attack, but Pakistan need Wahab Riaz’s raw pace to give them a different dimension.
Mohammed Amir celebrates Tom Latham's wicket
Trent Boult appeals for LBW
Yasir Shah had next to nothing to do in the match. And even in the second innings when he got a bit of a run in, he was mostly ineffective. Depending on the conditions, Pakistan could even consider a 4-pace attack in Hamilton. But despite all the successes, thinking out of the box is not exactly the current Pakistani Test side’s forte.
As New Zealand eye their first series win over Pakistan in 31 years, there’s more than just that resting on the second Test match, which begins today. It’s hard to see a draw - unless nature intervenes - in which case Pakistan are staring at contrasting series results at the end of the match.
A 2-0 whitewash (away) from New Zealand would, in addition to denting Pakistan’s recent unbeaten series run, also impact the team’s performance going to Australia - where Pakistan are aiming to win a Test match for the first time in two decades.
The significance of the Hamilton Test, hence, is self-evident not just for the current momentum, but also for the legacy that the record-breaking Test side is carving out for itself.
