Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka in the first test in quite a shocking way. Only 135 runs were required to win in two sessions. There was no pressure of time. All that was required was a game plan, calm approach and a mindset to deal with spin bowling. What we witnessed was a determined approach to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Our batting order crumbled like a wall of sand.
But the seeds of defeat might have been sown earlier at the time of preparing the pitch and selecting the team. The team management felt honourbound to play all the three top pacers because they were all good. Dropping any one in favour of a regular spinner would have been rude. The team management had forgotten the golden rule that “THEY HUNT IN PAIRS”. In the earlier encounters with other teams Yasir Shah was ably supported by Zulfiqar Babar. Before that had been Saeed Ajmal Ajmal, Abdul Rahman combination. If selectors don’t have faith in any finger spinner, they should have considered the other leg-spinner Shadab Khan. There is no ban on playing two quality leg-spinners.
The pitch was clearly not prepared for pacers. And spinners caused problems not with spin but with speed variation.
Another huge blunder had been made, by displacing Babar Azam from the batting position in which he has a string of successes. Azhar Ali is an experienced campaigner. He can play in any position. It was the decision by the Karachite captain to promote the Karachite Asad Shafiq to number four that caused the batting disorder. Asad Shafiq is a quality batsman but he should know that No 6 position is held always by a reliable and sound batsman.
Another matter that should be a cause of alarm for the selectors is the continuous decline in the performance of Sarfaraz himself. I believe when the top order crumbled in the match, Sarfaraz should have won the match for Pakistan single-handedly, as Inzaman ul Haque, Asif Iqbal, Imran Khan and even Abdul Razaq often did. Is captaincy causing havoc with Sarfaraz’s huge potential as a batsman. Ideally he should bat at No 6— pushing Asad Shafiq further down. Didn’t Gilchrist use to bat at No 7?
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