Hafeez and Umar: Providing some sense of stability at the top

Hobbs-Sutcliffe, Greenidge-Haynes, Hayden-Langer, and more recently Strauss-Cook as well as Sehwag-Gambhir. A dependable opening partnership is a key feature of every dominant Test team. The impact a consistent opening pair has on the team can be seen by the success of each of the teams that the above mentioned openers played for. Having been assigned the task of facing the pacemen coming at them full throttle with new cherries in their hands, the openers act as shock absorbers who attempt to see off the new ball, wear down the pacemen and lay down a foundation to the innings for the other batsmen to build upon.
When Mohammad Hafeez and Taufeeq Umar came out to bat in the only Pakistan innings in the Chittagong Test, it was the 21st straight time they did so, which, rather surprisingly, is now a record for Pakistani openers. While the likes of Hanif Mohammad, Sadiq Mohammad, Mohsin Khan, Mudassar Nazar, Saeed Anwer, Aamer Sohail, all went on to play more than 40 Test matches, the fact that it is the first time Pakistan persisted with the same opening pair for 10 straight Test matches goes a great distance to explain the instability in the team, especially at the top of the order.
Finding a consistent opening pair has been the Achilles heel of Pakistan cricket for a while now. In the 363 Test matches Pakistan has played, 135 different opening pairs have been tried. That means that on average an opening pair has been persisted with for a little less than 2.7 matches. That is the lowest among all test playing nations. Compare that with Sri Lanka, who top that list, having tried just 50 different opening partnerships in 208 Test matches, hence persisting with the same pair for 4.2 innings on average, and Pakistan’s batting can be better put into perspective.
Although the Hafeez-Umar duo now holds the record for the longest unchanged opening partnership for Pakistan, there are still four more pairs who have opened the innings on more occasions than the two. That list is topped by Mohsin Khan and Mudassar Nazar who have opened the innings for Pakistan on 54 occasions. The persistence of the Pakistani management and selectors with Hafeez and Umar is not because they have been the most consistent. The average partnership between Hafeez and Umar lasts just a tad above 40 runs, which is no match for Majid Khan and Sadiq Muhammad, who piled on more than 60 runs on average, the 26 times they opened the innings for Pakistan.
The Hafeez-Umar streak is instead a result of mental as well as physical fitness, as those are the key attributes for any consistent opening pair. The openers need to mentally strong to hang in there in the middle, even if the going gets tough and the runs dry up, and be able to craft an innings through the most difficult of times. They also need to be physically strong to survive for long periods, often in physically testing conditions. Sadly for Pakistan, these attributes have not been all that common in the opening batsmen. They have either gone down due to injuries or went through extended lean patches leading them to run out of favor with the selectors. Add to the equation the fickle-mindedness, or impatience, of the selectors, and you have musical chairs at the top of the Pakistani batting order.
The Hafeez-Umar duo has shown some toughness at the top, by hanging in there even when the going got tough. Four century stands, a tie with Saeed and Aamer for the most for any Pakistani opening pair, to go along with four 50-plus ones is a testament to their potential. The selectors and team management also deserve a pat on the back for the faith they have shown in this duo. But with the England series looming, the two are gearing up for their biggest challenge to date – facing up to Anderson and company. A few runs in the Dhaka Test should help their cause and keep the momentum going, but it would take a brave performance from the two against England for them to make their mark as not only one of the better opening pairs to represent Pakistan, but also one of the better ones in present-day Test cricket.