There was surprising candour to Mohammad Nawaz‘s admission after the first day that Pakistan’s bowling plans to Sri Lanka might have constituted a form of strategic naivety.
He lamented the number of easy runs Pakistan had given away as they went chasing after the wickets – Sri Lanka had racked up over 300 by stumps – meaning the impact of the steady fall of wickets was undermined by the equally unceasing trickle of runs. Had Pakistan, he mused, focused on bogging the batters down, Pakistan’s exigency for breakthroughs might have been satisfied more economically.
Agha Salman, still bedding into this side playing his second Test, wouldn’t be quite as frank to level a similar charge at his fellow batters. But the tactical muddle Pakistan’s bowlers found themselves in wasn’t restricted to that department. When Pakistan came out to bat on the stroke of lunch after bowling Sri Lanka out for 378, the visitors’ batting disconcertion was similarly impossible to conceal under the glare of the afternoon sun.
“They were bowling very well and not giving runs away,” Salman said. “They were playing a patient game and our patience was a little bit lacking. I spoke to Yousuf bhai [Mohammad Yousuf, batting coach] and he says if you play under your eye and close to your body, that is the way to do it. Once you spend time out there, batting gets a bit easier.”
Abdullah Shafique’s early dismissal set the tone, but the ripple effects of Azhar Ali’s omission meant Pakistan’s best batter Babar Azam was pushed up to a batting position where he is currently a shadow of the phenomenon that operates as a Test No. 4; his batting average drops from nearly 60 to about 25 when he promotes himself. Mohammad Rizwan, too, has never batted as high as No. 4, where he came in today, and just as he enters a red-ball dry patch, this kind of tinkering is unlikely to do him many favours.
In addition, Pakistan’s apparent anxiety to push the scoring rate up, looking to reprise the role Sri Lanka’s openers had played for their side on the first morning, looked frenetic and rash in the manner of Babar and Imam’s cheap dismissals. In Test cricket, particularly in Sri Lanka, it is difficult to tether yourself to a predetermined scoring rate, simply because the variance in the opposition’s bowling quality and plans is often too great to permit such inflexibility.
