The eminently forgettable Australian tour for Pakistan cricket team ended with it dropping to the lowly number 8 position in the ICC Test rankings. Pakistan’s current Test ranking sheds light on not only the recently concluded series against Australia but is also based on the last 2 years where Pakistan was only one series win where they beat Australia in UAE by a 1-0 margin.

By Sheharyar Nayyer (4th December, 2019)

The eminently forgettable Australian tour for Pakistan cricket team ended with it dropping to the lowly number 8 position in the ICC Test rankings. Pakistan’s current Test ranking sheds light on not only the recently concluded series against Australia but is also based on the last 2 years where Pakistan was only one series win where they beat Australia in UAE by a 1-0 margin.

Despite all this doom and gloom, one big positive for Pakistan cricket is the homecoming of Test cricket after 10 years and what better way to start that than to have the same team touring Pakistan for Test cricket which was the last team to play Tests in Pakistan as well and that team in Sri Lanka.

Last time these two sides played a Test series was in the home series of Pakistan in UAE where Sri Lanka won the series 0-2 whitewashing Pakistan. The upcoming series which also consists of 2 Tests and will be important for both the teams for different reasons. For Sri Lanka, they would like to continue to taste Test success against Pakistan, and for Pakistan it will be an opportunity to turn it around this time in its own backyard with venues being National Stadium Karachi and Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

Its pertinent to mention that nature of the conditions in Pakistan might be different than to those encountered in the UAE where they have been playing Test cricket for last 10 years. National Stadium Karachi historically provides good batting surfaces with nothing much in it for the pacers or spinners – in the last couple of days spinners might come into play but it's not guaranteed. While for Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium if we take its historical nature, it has probably the most supportive pitch in Pakistan for conventional pace bowling. However, just like Pakistan cricket team which is going to play Test cricket in Pakistan after a decade, Pakistani groundsmen will also be preparing wickets for Test cricket after a decade so we will have to see what they have in store for this all important series.

The only positives from Pakistan’s disastrous Australia series which Pakistan can take into home series against Sri Lanka is Babar Azam finding his feet at Test level, Mohammad Rizwan providing a dependable wicket-keeper option at no 6 or 7 and Shaheen Shah Afridi progressing decently in his Test career. He was by far the best bowler on display from Pakistan's side on his very first tour of Australia, whilst Naseem Shah looked a genuine prospect; however his fitness and handling by management will be something to look out for in the future.

For the Sri Lanka series Pakistan will need to find openers who can convert starts and play long innings. Other than the options tried in Australia, Abid Ali and Sami Aslam (who is currently the highest scorer in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy) are the stand outs who should be given the chance. Iftikhar Ahmed didn’t look too convincing in Tests in Australia and whether team management sticks with him or not will have to be seen though he will be playing at home where he can adjust better and can provide a decent off spin option depending upon the conditions. Haris Sohail, despite his failures in Australia, was really good in the last 2 series he played in UAE and was the highest scorer in the series against New Zealand so he could well be back in the Pakistan playing XI for the first Test match vs Sri Lanka.

However, the biggest worry for Pakistan is the recent lack of big scores from their most senior batsmen in the shape of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq. While both the batsmen have been far from convincing in the last two years, they are unlikely to be replaced and so the middle-order will largely remain the same as it was in Australia with Azhar, Babar, Asad and Haris likely to be the preferred options. However, if Azhar thinks about going back to opening then there might be a place for another batsman in the middle.

The pace bowling, with the sole exception of Shaheen Shah Afridi, looks toothless. Mohammad Abbas looks out of form and rhythm though lower bounce in Pakistan might suit his style of bowling more than in Australia, but it would be a tough call to make either ways as even in Quaid-e-Azam trophy he couldn’t impress much. It would also be logical to expect Imran Khan Snr and Muhammad Musa Khan to make way for other pacers.

So, who are the pacers who could be seen in the Pakistan line-up for the series against Sri Lanka? To start with, 26-year-old Ehsan Adil has improved a lot in the last two years and is doing decently in the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam trophy. His good height, his wicket-to-wicket style of bowling and a current economy of 2.65 can provide much needed control to build pressure. Another young option is Sameen Gul who is 20 years of age and already has 21 First-Class matches under his belt with an astonishing bowling average of 16; even in this year’s Quaid-e-Azam trophy which is much more competitive and is being played on good wickets for batting, he is averaging 25 with the ball.

Another contender can be the 25-year-old Usman Khan Shinwari who is looking fitter than before when he struggled with back injuries and has bowled well in the current Quaid-e-Azam Trophy with 12 wickets at an average of 22. Shinwari has one of the highest number of Man of the Match awards for Pakistan amongst pacers in ODIs in last 5 years which shows that he has the knack of picking wickets which can be handy in Tests, however on his bad days he can give away runs and release pressure. Encouragingly enough, he also has two 5-fers against Sri Lanka in ODIs which shows that he has troubled most of the Sri Lankan names in the squad more often than not in ODIs. The veteran Rahat Ali hasn’t been too impressive in his international career so far but lack of options might put him on the radar again for Test selection.

Coming to the spin bowling department, Yasir Shah is expected be the first choice considering his record at home and the big question will be who will be his spin-partner if two spinners are chosen considering the conditions. Pakistan has been lacking a decent slow left arm spinner since Zulfiqar Babar, so Zafar Gohar is a name which comes to mind. He is 24 years old and has also scored his first First-Class hundred in this domestic season and is also currently the 2nd highest wicket taker with 36 wickets at an average of 30. Nauman Ali is another option which Pakistan could consider. Nauman is 33-years-old and is also a slow left arm spin bowling option who is currently the highest wicket taker in the current First-Class season with an average of 23. Sajid Khan has been really impressive with his off spin in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy this year with 19 wickets at an average of 25 and considering the number of left-handers in Sri Lanka line-up, he can be on the selector’s radar too.

Sri Lanka recently have actually been doing few things in Tests which their previous legends and top players couldn’t do in their time, and that is to win a Test series against South Africa by white-washing them 0-2 and also white-washing Pakistan in their home series 0-2.

Though Sri Lanka will be missing their spin legend in Rangana Herath who was always the one against which Pakistani batsmen never looked comfortable against, Lasith Embuldeniya with his slow left arm spin could well be the home side’s nemesis. Embuldeniya is 23 years old and has 4 Tests under his belt with 12 wickets, he does have a decent arm bowl as well which was an important weapon of Herath against a Pakistan. Apart from him, Dilruwan Parera the off spinner who played an important role in UAE will be the most experienced spinner in the squad.

Sri Lanka batting for their part, will have some experienced campaigners is Angelo Mathews, Dimuth Karunaratne and Dinesh Chandimal supported by some impressive young batsmen in Oshada Fernando, Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella. Who can forget Kusal Perera whose batting against South Africa changed the tide of the entire series with arguably one of the best knocks in the history of Test cricket? Sri Lankan pace bowling might not look threatening on paper however, even with their limitations their application has been impressive on occasions unlike their Pakistani counterparts and was one of the main reasons of series win in South Africa.

This series promises to be a well contested one. Whilst Pakistan will be playing at home, the fact is that they haven’t played a Test on their home turf for 10 years and their troubles could well be compounded by their poor recent form from the Australia tour. Sri Lanka, on the other hand, have been hot and cold in recent times, so even though they are no 6 in latest Test rankings while Pakistan is at the number 8 position. Sri Lanka still can't be said to be firm favourites in the 2-match Test series.

Pakistan needs to answer a lot of questions in the upcoming series however, if they can find the right answers they have enough power in their tank to win their first Test series in Pakistan which is happening after a gap of 10 years and could finally bring joy to their World Test Championship campaign.

Discuss!