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It was more than a thrashing. It was a massacre. Like losing a tennis match 0-6, 0-6, 1-6 or a rugby match 0-50.
It was not just a whitewash, it was an annihilation. Realistically, Australia lost the first Test in Dubai by 221 runs and eight wickets because Pakistan had declared their second innings for the loss of two wickets.
Likewise they lost to Pakistan in the second Test at Abu Dhabi by 356 and 11 wickets as Pakistan had declared both innings closed for the loss of six wickets and three wickets.
Note the huge differences between the two teams.
• Pakistan aggregated 1683 runs for the loss of 21 wickets (average 80.14) with nine centuries. Younis Khan in the first Test hit centuries in both innings. Both Misbah-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali scored centuries in both innings in the second Test.
• Australia totalled 1026 runs for the loss of 40 wickets (average 25.65) with one century and a 97.
• Three Pakistani batsmen averaged over 100 each. Man of the Series Younis Khan scored 468 runs at 156.00, skipper Misbah-ul-Haq scored 271 runs at 135.50 and Sarfraz Ahmed scored 143 at 143.00). Azhar Ali missed out narrowly, 292 runs at 97.33.
• The highest average by an Australian was 59.70 by David Warner. Apart from Warner, Steven Smith and Mitchell Marsh, the other batsmen disappointed.
• Three Pakistani batsmen – Younis Khan 468 runs, Azhar Ali 292 and Misbah-ul-Haq 271 – scored 1031 runs in eight completed innings. This was five runs more than Australia’s aggregate of 1026 for the loss of 40 wickets.
• Two Pakistani bowlers – Zulfiqar Babar 14 wickets and Yasir Shah 12 – captured 26 wickets.
• In sharp contrast, it took nine Australian bowlers to take 20 wickets. Apart from Mitchell Johnson, the others appeared pedestrian.
• Fielding, usually the strong point of Australian cricketers, fell short of expectations.
So what’s the solution for Michael Clarke’s men when the Indians arrive in Australia for a 4-Test series?
We were debating the same problem last year this time awaiting England down under. Australia was beaten in England but not walloped, as they have now been. And how the Aussies came back in Australia, whitewashing England is fresh in our memory.
To select a winning combination is as difficult as to pick the Melbourne Cup winner. Warner is a certainty to open the innings with Chris Rogers.
But who will bat at no.3? I would go for Philip Hughes or Shane Watson.
Clarke seemed to regain his confidence in the first innings of the second Test and should do well at no. 4 against India. My choice for no. 5 is Usman Khawaja. He has the technique and temperament.
Smith and Marsh did enough in UAE to retain their place in the Test team.
Will Brad Haddin be retained as wicket-keeper? I think not.
Apart from Mitchell Johnson, the bowlers looked inapt. We’ll have to watch their performances in the Sheffield Shield.
Who knows, just as the Pakistanis recovered sensationally after being smashed to smithereens by Sri Lanka, can Australia too turn from zeros to heroes?