LONDON: Pakistan will try to salvage something from the wreckage of a woeful tour of England with an upset victory in the third Test at Edgbaston starting on Wednesday.
Mammoth defeats in the opening two encounters mean Pakistan have already lost the three-match series in emphatic fashion.But their response to a 194run loss in the second Test at Lord’s -which followed an innings reverse in the series opener at Headingley -surprised even longstanding observers of Pakistan’s often volatile cricket scene.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) took the extraordinary step of sending seven players home and calling up another seven, five of whom are uncapped at Test level.
At the same time, the PCB also sacked Test coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling chief Umar Gul, replacing them with Pakistan whiteball counterparts Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke.
Salman Ali Agha Pakistan’s captain at Headingley when Babar Azam was injured and left-arm spinner Ali Usman, who took a five-wicket haul in that match, were among those told to leave.
So too were experienced wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan and opener Imam-ulHaq, who did not bat in either innings at Lord’s because of a calf injury.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam said Tuesday he had no input into the dramatic reshaping of his squad ahead of the final Test, adding the raft of changes was ‘news to me’.
‘It was news to me,’ Babar said at a press conference. ‘I found out after. The PCB decided it, so they will be able to explain better.
‘The PCB’s decision must have been taken after some thought process. It’s better if you ask them why.
Babar and his players have little option but to put a tumultuous week behind them and focus on what they can produce on the field. To do so, however, he and Hesson have a number of fresh faces to choose from.
The uncapped duo ofpacer Razaullah and all-rounder Arafat Minhas could make their debuts, while Saim Ayub who has eight Tests to his name is likely to return to the side.
‘It’s an opportunity for us as a group and a team,’ Babar said. ‘The series is lost but we have nothing to lose. We should play freely and believe in ourselves as a team.
It is nearly four years since Babar last scored a Test century, with Pakistan yet to reach 200 as a team in four innings this series.
But the 31-year-old urged the new members of his squad to seize their chance.
‘It’s an opportunity for the new boys and a chance to showcase their talent,’ he said. ‘Any young player who comes in is excited, and that excitement is visible. I believethat will be visible in the match, too.
‘I firmly believe you need to grab opportunities and perform in difficult conditions.
That’s why we play cricket, because we have to perform and dominate in difficult conditions.
‘We need to forget about past failures and shift focus to the future.
Babar had little to say about the PCB inquiry announced Monday into the Pakistan squad’s ‘discipline and conduct’ while on tour, adding: ‘No, I don’t know. I have no idea about it.
Meanwhile, England captain Joe Root insisted it was ‘disrespectful’ to accuse Pakistan of showing ‘no fight’ with the tourists on the brink of suffering a Test series whitewash by his England side.
The team has been labelled one of the worst Pakistan cricket sides in decades.
Root, during his pre-match press conference at Edgbaston on Tuesday, was asked what it was like to face opponents offering ‘no fight’ against a revamped England pace quartet of Ollie Robinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue and Gus Atkinson.
Root took issue with the question, saying it was ‘disrespectful’ to both sides.
‘Absolutely we have found (Pakistan) a challenge,’ Root said. ‘I think that’s a bit disrespectful to both Pakistan as a team and to us as a team, added Root, in his second spell as full-time England skipper following the shock international retirement of Ben Stokes.
‘I don’t think we’ve allowed them to get into games because of how well we’ve played as well and how quickly we’ve read the situations and the surfaces that we’ve had.
‘I think it’s very easy to say one team is excellent and one team is poor. Normally it’s somewhere in the middle.
‘If one team has been outstanding then the other team can’t have been poor and viceversa. I think it’s important to live in that middle area somewhere and understand that that’s not how it is.
‘Regardless of what’s happened over the last two games, this week it’s a completely different proposition for us.
‘There’s a very talented group of players in that dressing room and you’ve got to be ready for it, so we’ll make sure that we are.
The challenge for England is to maintain the professionalism a sharp contrast to the extravagances at the end of the Bazball era that has carried them to a first Test series win in over a year by rounding off returning skipper Root’s first series back in charge with a whitewash.
The fear among Pakistan supporters is even a win in Birmingham could do more long-term harm than good by papering over the cracks in a dysfunctional set-up.
One of cricket’s enduring cliches is Pakistan are a ‘mercurial’ team. But a side who have lost 15 of their last 20 Tests are now all too predictable.-Agencies