Whilst a series win wasn’t expected, many thought that Pakistan’s largely established and settled team could put up a stiff challenge for South Africa and come away with their pride intact.

By Saj Sadiq (24th February, 2013)

Not even the most diehard Pakistani cricket follower would have expected Pakistan to win the Test series in South Africa. Unbeaten in 12 previous Test matches ahead of the visit of Pakistan, Graeme Smith’s men were always going to present a tough challenge for Misbah ul Haq and his group of undercooked Test cricketers. Whilst a series win wasn’t expected, many thought that Pakistan’s largely established and settled team could put up a stiff challenge for South Africa and come away with their pride intact. What ensued was a painful and harsh lesson for Pakistan’s cricketers, the team management and for those that are currently responsible for making key decisions in Pakistan cricket.

As if going into a series in unfamiliar conditions against the best team in the world wasn’t difficult enough, add to that six months of no Test cricket and then add to the mix the bizarre decision to only play one four day practice match, that too on the placid East London surface.....Pakistan cricket doesn’t like to do itself many favours does it?! When you are entering the lion’s den, you want to be prepared fully for whatever confronts you, the Pakistani cricket team however were climbing Mount Everest wearing a pair of flip flops, a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. Common sense would tell you that a couple of warm up matches in South African conditions may help you prepare and get your team ready for the challenges that lie ahead, but hey why make things easy for oneself?

Injuries played some part in Pakistan’s demise in the series, Taufeeq Umar has a decent record against South Africa and may have provided more gritty resistance than some of his team mates did. Junaid Khan was superb in the first Test match but wasn’t seen again in the series after sustaining a thigh injury. Irfan rather surprisingly was deemed unfit for the first Test in Johannesburg on a surface that would have suited him more than the other two surfaces that he actually played on. The question marks over Irfan’s fitness and the reason for him missing the first Test were questionable to say the least, particularly given the way he bowled in the second and third Tests and the number of overs he bowled. Umar Gul was deemed unfit for the third Test, the reason given was a sore throat. The likely reality is that Gul was dropped after some indifference performances of late. His form in all facets of his game has to be a major concern. Will he focus only on the shorter formats in future? It’s a realistic possibility.

That the scheduled fifteen days of cricket eventually turned into eleven days of cricket was largely down to the efficiency and brilliance of the South Africans and the frailty of the Pakistani batsmen. South Africa played some good cricket, to term it brilliant would be going overboard. They did what was needed, they did what was enough and they went up the gears when they needed to do. Pakistan rarely challenged them despite bowling out the home side for 253 on the first day of the series, an innings that seems like a distant memory given what followed.

When a team is shot out for 49 in their first innings of a Test series, that leaves some serious mental scars, and the harsh truth is that those scars never healed throughout the series. That first innings of the Test series for Pakistan only lasted 29.1 overs and that set the tone for the series. The damage had been done, the Pakistani batsmen who had looked wide eyed, alert and full of energy when in the field during South Africa’s first innings now looked worried and confused. Pakistan’s collective batting unit never recovered from that first innings.

Pakistan’s collapses in the Test series were as painful as some of the blows Steyn and company stuck the Pakistanis with the ball. 40 for 10 wickets, 59 for 6, 33 for 4, 16 for 4, 55 for 7 and 110 for 10 are the digits that the analysts will take away with them. The South African bowlers against the Pakistani batsmen became a one sided battle that could be compared with today’s Swansea and Bradford encounter at Wembley, it never got off the ground. Only in the second Test at Cape Town when Asad Shafiq and Younus Khan put on 219 runs did the South Africans look remotely concerned. But despite two centurions and a bowler who took 10 wickets in the match, the Pakistanis managed to fluff their lines and lose the match by 4 wickets. At 164 for 6 and 174 runs behind Pakistan, the tourists had the match by the scruff of the neck but let the home side off the hook particularly Robin Peterson who made 84. Even then at 114 for 3 in their second innings Pakistan had the chance to build a lead that with Saeed Ajmal in their ranks could have troubled South Africa, but yet another collapse put paid to that hope.

The final Test was an embarrassing mismatch which reminded me of one of those boxing matches that sees a fighter whose had one round too many facing an opponent in his prime. It lasted the equivalent of a few one sided rounds before the better fighter inflicted the knockout punch. It was painful viewing and the local crowds mocked the tourists efforts at times. Whilst those watching the action around the world on television must have been infuriated by Pakistan’s efforts, my sympathy goes to those that sat to the end waving the green and white Pakistani flag.

What are the positives from this series? Well it sounds like the players had some nice days off with their families, enjoyed sightseeing and enjoyed the fantastic weather that South Africa presented. Other than that I’m struggling to come up with too many positives. Irfan bowled his heart out, Younis Khan showed at times that he still has the heart and desire for a battle, Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali both reiterated the fact that they will be the batting mainstays in that Pakistan middle order for years to come. Junaid was brilliant in the one Test he played and Ajmal once again showed that he is a world class spinner. Ehsan Adil and Rahat Ali also showed that they have potential and should be persevered with.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but it’s always good and useful to come up with what could have been done differently. Opening with Hafeez in this series was a glaring error, I had stated before the series that he should bat in the middle order and that was confirmed given his lack of confidence and struggles against the new ball. Selection policies were rather interesting with Sarfraz Ahmed who struggled with the bat throughout the series preferred over Adnan Akmal, a decision that looked decidedly surprising whenever Sarfraz came out to bat. In addition a lack of an all-rounder really hit Pakistan hard ; when your tail starts at number 7 you are not going to give a bowling attack of the quality of South Africa’s too many sleepless nights.

The calls for Misbah to be removed from the Test captaincy started straight after the final wicket was taken by the South Africans today. However is that justified? Yes Misbah had a lean series with the bat, but is that what will benefit Pakistan cricket by bringing someone new to lead the side? Is Hafeez the right man to take over, if not, then who else is around to lead the team? Some have mentioned Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali as candidates, may I remind those folk that between them Azhar and Asad have captained a team once in domestic cricket. Those stating that South Africa took a risk by appointing Graeme Smith as a young captain and that paid off, need to realise that the South African dressing room and environment is entirely different to the Pakistani one and we have been through the young captain experiment before.....it never worked. 

You learn more from defeats than victories said some wise man. It’s probably an overused phrase but in this instance it’s a valid point. What will the players, the management and the Board learn from this series? I’m sure the PCB is already contemplating setting up a committee headed by Intikhab Alam to look into what went wrong during the Test series. No need to, the reasons are glaringly obvious and there are a few things that should be at the top of the agenda ; preparation for the series resulting in the Pakistan side as mentioned above going into the Test series with very little match practice. In addition the PCB needs to look at where it is allocating and prioritising it’s funds. A lack of “A” and academy tours to countries such as South Africa means, as pointed out by Dav Whatmore a number of the Pakistani players had not even played cricket with a red ball in South Africa before this series, this cannot continue. If this issue is not addressed and more junior teams are not sent to foreign shores outside Asia, then Pakistan will become a team that can only compete in Asian conditions and in the UAE. If the PCB wants to address this issue, then they need to prioritise “A” and academy tours ahead of the needs of VIPs for matches abroad and ahead of paying for journalists to embark on overseas tours. The ball is in the PCB’s court.

Above all the panic button should not be pressed. This was always going to be a difficult series, yes the Pakistanis let themselves down at times, but the harsh truth is that they were outplayed for large parts of this series as would most teams in this situation. What is more relevant though is to ensure the mistakes in lack of preparation and the lack of experience of the conditions are not repeated for future Test series in South Africa.