Sami Chaudhry’s column: Babar Azam could not ‘borer’ Sri Lanka

When Wasim Akram was asked by a contemporary bowler why he bowled on slow and batting-friendly pitches like Pakistan for most of his career, yet he was so successful, his simple answer was that he was such a They did not try to blow wickets on the pitches. He would target the middle-stump line with complete discipline and bowl successive full-lengths until the batsmen got bored and made a mistake that would have appeared as an lbw or bowled. In bowling under this formula of Wasim Akram, not only the pacers, the spinners also have a complete advantage of not getting wickets, but the economy rate remains healthy anyway. And so it becomes easier to bore the batsman in modern day cricket.

The secret of Misbah-ul-Haq’s success in Test captaincy was that he would provide his bowlers with such a fielding and plan that apparently had nothing to do with aggression, but the same boring plan would eventually prove to be a repeat for Pakistan. And the batsmen were forced to make mistakes by boredom.

On the first morning of the Galle Test, when Babar Azam lost the toss and Pakistan were invited to bowl, the team management needed to introduce the same Wasim Akram philosophy to the Pakistani attack as the pitch was generally more conducive to batting than in the previous match. was different and the struggle to get wickets on it was surely going to be a futile effort.

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But perhaps this plan was not explained and the Pakistani attack started trying hard to take wickets as soon as they came. And it is no secret what results from aggressive bowling when there is no possibility of seam movement and unnatural turns in the wicket.

After a long time, Pakistan had to go into a Test match without Shaheen Shah Afridi and here this deficiency was also strongly felt, how much pressure is put on the bowling attack if wickets are not found at the beginning. In his absence, the aggressive lines Pakistan tried to bowl resulted in Sri Lanka’s exceptional run rate.

This was also admitted by Muhammad Nawaz, who said that where Pakistan just needed to bowl on tight and correct lines, unnecessary aggression was tried for the sake of getting wickets and the result was that the first two overs on the first day. In the sessions, the run rate was also similar to ODI cricket. But on the contrary, when the Pakistani batsmen entered the field and the ball hit the hands of the host bowlers, they had no desire to take wickets and wrap up the chessboard as soon as possible. He just showed discipline and kept bowling on the right lines from where it was difficult to get runs and the boredom of the batsmen was also certain. So, when the boredom of the batsmen is certain and the target on the scoreboard is so dangerous, then the batsmen do not prefer to be bored for long. They use pace, try to deviate from tradition and try to disrupt the line and length of the bowlers with their aggression.

The Pakistani top order also did the same here. Abdullah Shafiq was unlucky to be bowled by a very beautiful ball before he could set foot. But the majority of the remaining batsmen axed themselves.

Every Test batsman should heed Brian Lara’s saying that if you can’t go forward against spin, then don’t go backward.

But instead of considering the current pitch and conditions, the Pakistani batsmen were mentally stuck in the first innings of the previous match. So, where there was a need to play forward, he played on the back foot in anticipation of an unnatural turn, and most of the wickets ended up in the same dilemma where the batsmen stayed on the back foot in anticipation of the turn, but instead of the turn, the ball went straight. and hit the inside edge or pad. Sri Lanka have put up a bigger total than Pakistan expected in the first innings and Salman Agha’s resilient innings has pulled Pakistan out of the danger of a follow-on, but Yasir Shah and Nouman to consolidate their position in the match. Ali will have to repeat his best innings of his career otherwise this match seems to be slipping away from Pakistan’s grasp at the moment.

Read more: Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by four wickets thanks to Abdullah Shafiq’s unbeaten century in the Galle Test