Cricket

What went wrong for Pakistan at Newlands.

Mediocre batting has always been the core issue of Pakistan but his time around apart from batting the average bowling has let us down too. Pakistan played three front line seamers with the spinner Yasir Shah on a surface where they could’ve gone with either Hasan Ali or Faheem Ashraf in place of Yasir Shah but questionable selection once again got in the way of Pakistan’s substantial performance.

South Africa put Pakistan to bat first on a grassy deck with the bowling line up of 4 seamers on the surface where the batting looked difficult and our batsman followed the tradition of getting out cheaply to the quality bowling. Only Shan Masood and skipper Sarfaraz showed resistance while other batsman became a victim of some aggressive bowling. After being bundled out for a below par score. Pakistan’s bowlers couldn’t capitalize on Southafrica’s batting. And the issue of not having the 4 seamers in the side haunted Pakistan throughout the second test.

Bowling:

Abbas: Muhammad Abbas made a comeback in the series but he looked off-color in the second test. Apart from leaking runs, Abbas wasn’t accurate too.

Amir: Amir was a bit impressive in 2nd test. He picked up vital wickets and he generated some pace and swing with the new ball too.

Yasir Shah: Of all Pakistan’s bowlers, Yasir Shah looked below par in the series. Yasir had a good run against New Zealand and Australia in UAE but he was outsmarted by Southafrica’s batting on this tour.

Shaheen Shah Afridi: Afridi was impressive as ever. He took the important wicket of the skipper Du Plessis and he caused problems for batsman with the new and the old ball.

Batting:

Shan Masood being the leading runs scorer of the series has been the highlight for Pakistan. Shan showed great courage against South Africa’s bowling attack.

Imam Ul Haq looked completely out of sorts and had a disappointing run in the second test.

Azhar Ali is the most senior batsman of the side, Pakistan had loads of expectations from Azhar Ali but the senior pro couldn’t handle the pressure of quality bowling and felt cheaply in both innings.

Asad Shafiq showed some aggressive intent in the second test. Being out of form, Asad was under immense pressure but he batted well to score a half-century in second innings.

Fakhar Zaman’s technique and approach failed miserably in South Africa. The left-handed opener couldn’t coup the pressure bowling attack and didn’t even enter in double figures in both innings.

Sarfaraz Ahmed was under pressure after his pair in the first test. Skipper made a fighting half-century in the first innings but felt cheaply in second innings.

 

Team Pakistan need to play with a positive mindset in the 3rd test. Pakistan likely to Pakistan Faheem Ashraf and Muhammad Rizwan in the side to strengthen their bowling and batting department.

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