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Pakistan vs England 2016: Victories at Lord’s can be misleading

If batsmen decide to go fishing outside off despite knowing the perils and bowlers do not attack the wickets more, how can they expect to win?

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Pakistan still have a long way to go © Getty Images
Pakistan still have a long way to go © Getty Images

Not reading much into the Sri Lanka series earlier this English summer and a drawn series against New Zealand last year, there is something bewildering about Lord’s. The Home of Cricket has given touring teams chances to get the better of England in recent years, who have remained clueless about their gameplans at the venue. Be it India in 2014, Australia in the next and Pakistan this year, most of the touring teams have played at Lord’s differently than what they have at other venues. In the last four days, maybe Pakistan too got caught in the same web, and it is only a shame that they have squandered a perfect chance to keep England under the pump. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Pakistan vs England 2016, 2nd Test at Old Trafford

Pakistan realise they are a better team here and have an opportunity to win this Test series in England, but with their familiar shortcomings and performances as abject as seen in the second Test at Old Trafford, Misbah-ul-Haq’s team are not likely to achieve anything.

But this was a team coming off a terrific Test win at Lord’s. This was a team that had the mojo, the momentum, the mood, the setup, enough firepower to keep it all going. But Pakistan’s familiar traits returned after all-too-brief spike of perfection at Lord’s: catches were dropped, batsmen played horrible strokes and their bowlers strayed with their line and lengths consistently.

Two of the best batsmen in Test cricket — Alastair Cook and Joe Root were allowed to make merry on a flat deck — not once but twice, that too at a terrific run rate. And that is indeed hazardous.

India have been through this before, as had Australia, after winning at Lord’s. Despite knowing all this, Pakistan erred. Letting England get away with big scores and their bowlers wreaking havoc on the flattest of wickets is not something new, unfortunately, Pakistan could not avoid it.

As they have shown in their history, Pakistan tend to learn things the hard way. Ideally, this 330-run humiliation should only spur them to get back to their best. But then, have the big defeats worked in favour of the other teams touring England in the recent past?

India had fizzled out as soon as they left Lord’s in 2014. Australia lost to seam and swing. But what about Pakistan? They were hammered on a wicket where England captain Alastair Cook danced down the wicket and even tried slogging on the fourth day! Did those wins provide India, Australia and Pakistan false sense of security?

As bizarre as England were with their tactics, Pakistan were no different. Exactly what went wrong will be tough to comprehend. But that the Pakistani brains were frozen in the middle was proven by bringing on Azhar Ali at a time when Pakistan should ideally have looked for containment. It defied almost all cricketing logic. ALSO READ: Pakistan fall into age-old England trap

Pakistan will know it was not James Anderson’s brilliance or a freak spell by Stuart Broad that defied them, which did not let them cross 250 even once. Instead, they were crushed under the England’s immense weight of runs and their own indiscipline. Pakistan could have scored heaps of runs as well, but if batsmen decide to go fishing outside off despite knowing the perils and bowlers do not attack the wickets more, how can they expect to win?

The difference between Pakistani bowlers and their counterparts was vast. While Pakistan kept spraying outside off, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes made the batsmen play more often than not. Since it was a flat deck with no grass, the seam could not be utilised as well.

If Mickey Arthur and Pakistan want to forget the past and take this as a two-Test affair hereon, they must also remember that Edgbaston and The Oval remain among England’s favourite hunting grounds.

(Devarchit Varma is senior writer with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)

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