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The bookies yesterday had Pakistan as $6.20 outsiders to win the first Test against Australia. Don’t be distracted by Pakistan’s 2-0 Test loss in New Zealand – they are well and truly capable of upsetting Australia.
Pakistan were ranked number one in Tests just two months ago. While that top ranking can at time be totally unearned – Australia somehow held it prior to the Sri Lanka series – Pakistan deserved the crown.
They ascended to number one on the back of a 2-2 series draw in England. To me that result, in the context of the series against Australia, is more relevant than their loss against the Kiwis this past month. Having watched Pakistan a lot in the Test format over the past two years I would rate that performance in New Zealand as an aberration.
They looked switched off from the first day of the first Test and never recovered. This can happen, even to good sides. It could happen again over the next month and Australia could trounce them 3-0.
But if Pakistan play with the same skill and resolve they exhibited in England they easily could beat Australia in this series. I described their woeful effort in New Zealand as an aberration because it belied the steely cricket Pakistan have played for several years now.
In that time they have challenged the common perception that Pakistan are a flaky side consisting of talented but unreliable cricketers. There is no doubt Pakistan teams of the past have underperformed.
Even in the mid-1990s to early 2000s when they boasted the exquisite gifts of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Inzamam ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Saqlain Mushtaq and Saeed Anwar, Pakistan were less than the sum of their parts, more often than not.
Pakistan so often have been mired in controversy, unsettled by off-field issues. But they have been guided into calmer, more prosperous waters by steady skipper Misbah ul-Haq.
When he took the reins of the Test team in 2010 Pakistan were a hot mess. They had been led by six captains in the previous six years, including Salman Butt who had just received a long-term ban for spot fixing, along with gun quicks Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir.
Pakistan cricket had been stripped of not just three key players but also of its dignity.
Misbah’s task seemed nigh-on insurmountable. Even more so when you consider he was a 36-year-old batsman unproven at Test level, with just 1008 runs at an average of 34 to his name.
In the six years before Misbah became captain, Pakistan had won just 12 of their 48 Tests. In the following six years with Misbah in charge they doubled that number, recording a fantastic 24-13 win-loss record.
Most impressively, they had an 11-11 record away from home, the best of any Test team after South Africa in that period. Their crowning achievement, literally, was the 2-2 draw this year in England against a bullish home side which had just flogged Sri Lanka and scored an upset series victory in South Africa.
Pakistan started that four-Test series in England strongly, winning the opening Test by 75 runs.
Then the hosts rebounded and Pakistan found themselves 2-1 down heading into the fourth Test.
Pakistan teams of the past would have been odds on to crumble to a heavy defeat in that match and a 3-1 series ledger. Not under Misbah’s watch.
Instead Pakistan charged to a ten-wicket win, in the process earning the number one Test ranking for the first time in history. It was a series win built not on the back of one or two dominant players but on a spread of contributors.
Pakistan had five batsmen who averaged 39 or better with the blade in that series in England. With the ball, leg spinner Yasir Shah and pacemen Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz and Amir all chipped in with decisive performances at various moments.
The Pakistan team and their fans were jubilant. Both groups would have celebrated long and vigorously. I wonder, then, whether they suffered something akin to a “premiership” hangover during the series in New Zealand. That is not to take anything away from the Kiwis, who played some terrific cricket.
But it was the least spirited display I have seen from Pakistan in several years. That awful performance will have stung Misbah and his team.
They will be seeking redemption. A series victory in Australia would be the perfect way to cap what has been a wonderful year for the Pakistan Test team. And it’s a real possibility – ignore the bookies.