Pakistani batting falls apart under English swing at Trent Bridge
Pakistan’s misery in the batting department continues. Pakistani bowlers started the day on a high note by picking up 6 wickets within an hour. England was restricted to 354 and the ball was in the batsmen’s court. Captain Salman Butt failed to inspire his batting department and wickets fell at regular intervals. Pakistan was well on course for a disastrous day when they were 47-6. It looked as if Pakistan would end their innings at a score of 60 or less. It was Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Aamer who did a little face saving for http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 and stretched the score to 105 before Malik edged a delivery to the slips. Pakistan’s tail showed their batsmen how to play in difficult conditions. Umar Gul who didn’t have much luck with ball, was impressive with his unbeaten 30.
It will take a few miracles for Pakistan to come out of this trouble. Pakistan is staring at defeat in the first Test. Team Pakistan is nine down on a score of 147. England needs just one more wicket to impose follow on while Pakistan will require another 8 runs to avoid it. England will be happy even if they miss out on the follow on, since chances are they will still have a massive lead of around 200. Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif face a tough task since it will be very difficult to score anything early in the day.
Pakistan’s inexperienced batting line up had no answers to the quality seam bowling of English bowlers. Only eight overs were left before lunch when Pakistani openers entered the field. Salman Butt was the first one to get out on a James Anderson delivery. Azhar Ali and Imran Farhat managed to hold on till lunch. The second session saw some nervy batting by the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746. It was clear that Pakistan will face difficulties negotiating seam bowlers but no one had expected such a nerveless batting crash.
Pakistan’s nerviness can be judged from the fact that no batsman asked for UDRS referrals even though some decisions were doubtful. Inexperienced Azhar Ali was seen walking back to pavilion without any hesitation, where as the replays clearly showed that if he had opted for UDRS referral, the decision would have been reversed.
Pakistan captain Salman Butt, however defended his batsmen for not using UDRS, "I think it was very honest of Azhar Ali, good sportsmanship," he said. "He edged it and he walked straight away. Hawkeye is not 100 percent and neither is Hotspot," said Butt. "When the ball hits the sticker on the side [of the bat] it doesn't leave a mark. It happened with one or two decisions before. But the point is, if the batsman knows he has hit the ball there's no point taking a chance, because if it's up there on the big screen it's pretty embarrassing".
Pakistan team selection and team management need another wake up call. Introduction of youngsters in the team is a good sign but they require help from senior players, which in this case they don’t have. Pakistan’s batting line up is completely inexperienced. The Akmal Brothers are yet to come out of T20 mode. Akmal had a horrible stint behind the stumps, where he embarrassed himself with some berserk wicket keeping. If that was not enough, Kamran got out on zero without disturbing the scoreboard. His test performance has put a big question mark on his selection as a test player.
Pakistan’s skipper Salman Butt thinks otherwise on his team’s miserably batting display and gives credit to quality English bowling. "It is okay to say batsmen make mistakes but the runs were not coming as well," he said. "It shows how immaculate the line and lengths of the bowlers have been and the conditions have been very helpful to seam bowling. If they land the bowl in good areas then there is every kind of help for them".
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