“At no stage during their partnership were they pretty to watch, but Taufeeq and Azhar will rightly point to the scoreboard, and to Pakistan’s position, to show that it was worth the grind”
Abhihek Purohit, Day 2 Report on Cricinfo
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and as it turns out, it wasn’t quite worth it. Pakistan managed to snatch a draw from the jaws of victory because they ran out of time. Reading various media reports and listening to experts, one got the feeling that the reason Pakistan could not triumph were the catches that were spilled during Sri Lanka’s 2nd innings and while they definitely played a part, lack of intent on the part of team management and batsmen was equally if not more responsible.
Pakistan had Sri Lanka on the ropes by dismissing them for 197 on the first day and the stage was set for the batsmen to post a big score on a pitch that was later described as ‘a flat pitch ideal for batting’ by our interim coach, Mohsin Khan. Pakistan managed to get a big score but in an agonisingly long time, conveniently forgetting it seems that it would be equally difficult to dismiss a formidable Sri Lankan line up in a matter of sessions two times in a row on a totally unresponsive pitch or perhaps they were counting on the Lankans to roll over like they did in the first innings.
Hafeez and Misbah were the only ones apparently out of the loop, as they did the crazy and actually tried scoring as opposed to the others who made a 100m turtle sprint race appear more exciting. An innings run-rate of 2.92 meant that Pakistan ended up using too many overs for not enough runs and consequently had to face a stiff target of 170 in 21 overs on the final day to secure a win. All set for an exciting run chase? Not really. The team management decided not to make a ‘mess of things’ against a ‘steady bowling unit’ by playing out time; was the team so scared of attempting a chase, in good batting conditions, against a line up that had a debutant while the other three had a combined total and combined average of 50 and 44.14? What’s the worst that could have happened? A few early wickets may have fallen.
Surely they could have shut up shop afterwards and bat out the remaining overs. Pakistan has been suffering from this defensive mindset for a while now, peaking during Inzamam’s era where the aim was not to lose and then build from there. This safety-first approach seems to have transcended since then and as recently as last year, Pakistan, under the leadership of Misbah, gave up the ghost and ultimately a chance of a famous run chase and victory against South Africa despite being in a commanding position. Australia and the West Indies before them, built their cricketing dynasties on the oft-mentioned cliché: attack is the best form of defence.
Such was the ruthlessness of the Aussies in their pomp that they would press for wins even when the onus wasn’t on them; the 2001 Brisbane test between Australia and New Zealand, where both captains made sporting declarations in order to achieve a result is living proof of their mentality to succeed. A Gordon Greenidge inspired West Indies racked up 342 in under five hours back in 1984 at Lord’s, at a time when high strike rates were frowned upon. Come to think of it, even Geoffrey Boycott spearheaded an assault on the Windies when they were left to chase 215 in less than three hours on the final day back in 1968.
So why couldn’t these Pakistani batsmen, most of them brought up in this age of Twenty20 cricket, not even ‘attempt’ a run chase? Moving to Dubai, the venue for the second Test, one got the feeling of déjà vu. The Pakistani bowlers did brilliantly again to reduce Sri Lanka to 154 for 8 but Misbah, in a moment of ‘inspiration’, decided to stop attacking and allowed Herath and Welegedara to add 75 runs for the ninth wicket, runs which may yet prove to be decisive.
By the close of the fourth day, Pakistan won by nine wickets and Sri Lanka were simply outplayed. To give credit where it’s due, Pakistan did show a bit more urgency than they did in the first Test. Needless to say, Pakistan lost a great opportunity at Abu Dhabi even if they won the second Test.
