England v Pakistan, 2nd Test, Manchester, day 4 - The Lord's euphoria is over

The euphoria of the Test victory at Lord’s is vanished in the twinkle of an eye. Pakistan have turned out to be the cornered chickens at Manchester and their batting display on a batting friendly track had been dismal. Neither they learned from the mistakes in the first innings, nor they showed the fighting spirit which helped them to win the first Test. From Misbah’s poor captaincy to poor fielding to poor batting, this Test match has brought the Pakistani team down from the sky.

Shan Masood is an overrated batsman and in my opinion, he lacks the technique and temperament to feature in a third division team let alone the national squad. Mohammad Hafeez is another overrated player who is lucky enough to play for Pakistan for such a brief period. You cannot prosper in Test cricket with such limited batting abilities.

Meanwhile, England have exposed Azhar Ali badly. The middle and leg stump line is Ali’s nemesis. If you bowl full enough on that line, Ali, due to his habit of shuffling too much across the line, becomes an easy victim. In the first Test, I tweeted about it and even the experts of Sky Sports highlighted it, but Azhar did not bother to rectify it. Top players learn and don’t over-celebrate.

Younis Khan looked settled after lunch, but he also threw his wicket away while attempting an unnecessary huge-swipe. The story of the rest of the batting line-up is the same – total lack of application on a track which was good for batting. England have leveled the series and I must say, they must be thankful to a very pathetic display by the Pakistani captain and batsmen. 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar