Dangerous Minds

2nd Test – Pakistan v England - Dubai (Wed Jan 25 – Sun Jan 29)

Needless to say that the Pakistani fans are already thinking of a 3-0 whitewash being a real possibility after the win in the first Test. And why not … it’s not so much the win itself but the manner in which it came in. English fans on the other side (at least majority of them) would certainly be considering a 2-1 comeback. After all, theirs is still the no. 1 ranked side in the world. But then that’s what the fan following is and both these mindsets are quite understandable. What matters though is not the fans’ bullishness but how the two playing camps are preparing right now and what’s on their mind right now.

English camp would certainly be focused purely on the second Test alone and their minds won’t even be wandering to the third one at all. Their aim would be to win this next one and come back in the series 1-1 and won’t even be considering a draw to leave anything till the last Test. That’s quite understandable and a professional approach too. Figure out what went wrong in the first one, try to rectify that. Figure out the weaknesses in the opponent’s camp and try to attack that. Nothing less is expected of the team that conquered Australia and thrashed India 4-0 to take their crown (the no. 1 rank that is – although this whole rankings business is a separate debate for another time).

It’s the Pakistan Camp’s thinking that worries me most … There is no doubt in my mind that they are right now thinking on how to draw the next two Tests so we can take the series 1-0. Why am I so sure of this? Well for one, Misbah stated this in an interview himself and second, we can see this trend quite clearly in the last four Test series that we have played. This defensive mindset could prove to be very dangerous against England, especially when they will be on the attack (without any doubt).

Remember West Indies? We lost the first Test playing defensively and then had to live with a 1-1 draw. Had we been careful in the first Test and not been so negative we could easily at least have gotten a draw out of it and had won the series 1-0. Sri Lanka is a less distant memory. We drew the first Test from a very strong position, just because we were not positive enough – safety before risk was the clear approach there. We won the second Test and had we won the first one too, we’d have sealed the series there and then. But since we didn’t do that, the third Test was an opportunity for Sri Lanka to fight back and level the series and they came quite close to doing just that as well. The 1-0 win in the end was indeed a lucky escape for us. England are nothing like the last five teams we have played (Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, West Indies and New Zealand), so I am not quite sure how far this defensive mindset will take us in this series.

The opponent is down, is cornered, is at a disadvantage of their own making and I firmly believe we should start with an attacking mindset while we are ahead. But then I am not leading the team and as far as Misbah goes … I can see him (even if we lose the second Test) still entering the third Test to draw as well, so he can sit back on a 1-1 result.

I sincerely hope that Misbah and co. prove me wrong over the next five days …

Let’s forget about the mindset for a while and look at the possible team selection. They say don’t fix what’s not broken and why change a winning combination but I think we need at least one change and that’s Umar Akmal for Asad Shafiq. I am not a big fan of Asad for some reason and the more I see him the further convinced I am. Azhar Ali also didn’t score enough and in fact ‘occupied the crease’ for less time than Asad but his technique and temperament is much better than Asad’s.

Now Umar’s temperament might not be any better than the other two youngsters but he does score more freely and that is one area Pakistan should be concerned about. Where teams like England and Australia easily score 320-350 in a day’s play, we have been averaging only around 230-260. That’s about 90-100 runs less than what a good team really should be scoring. And with 90 overs in the day that translates into the run-rate of about a run an over less.

I had been chatting with Ramiz Raja on Twitter during the first Test and he strongly agreed with me (and in fact quoted my tweets on air) that this whole idea of occupying the crease without actually rotating the strike is just wasting time and digging a hole because wickets eventually do fall and when they fall if you haven’t been scoring at a rate you should have maintained, trouble comes compounded. Plus Umer Akmal in my view is a match-winner on his own; if he clicks he’ll provide that ‘attacking mindset’ we need right now and if he doesn’t, well can’t be worse than Asad now can he?

I wouldn’t tinker with the bowling, especially spinners. Gul had a bad first innings in the first Test but in the second innings he showed that experience of big stage matters. So if anything replace Cheema with Wahab. One (Wahab) is an upcoming newcomer who needs this kind of experience and can produce results on the flattest of wickets and the other (Cheema) is well, shouldn’t he be on his way out? (very little experience so far, but aged out already for a pace bowler).

I’d say this again: I really hope Misbah & co. prove me wrong … and go in with some attacking mindset and show some initiative to control the game. We all know that immediately after a comprehensive win, half our team’s overconfidence is usually the reason for their poor display. Combine that with a totally defensive approach, if we lie down and go on the back-foot at all, England will surely roll us over. In the last game Pakistan psyched England out of the contest on Day 1 itself, this time I hope they don’t psych themselves out.