October 22, 2024

How Pakistan Pulled Off the Multan Miracle

The situation turned dire for Pakistan as they faced defeat in the first Multan Test against England. At the end of Day Four, they were trailing by 115 runs in their second innings with only four wickets left. Despite scoring an impressive 556 runs in their first innings, Pakistan suffered a historic innings loss, becoming the first team in Test history to lose by an innings after scoring over 500 runs in the first innings. This defeat marked Pakistan’s seventh loss in 11 home Tests since February 2021 and their sixth consecutive defeat.

Following Pakistan’s defeat, the Pakistan Cricket Board officially revamped the national men’s selection committee. They announced that umpire Aleem Dar and former Test cricketers Aaqib Javed and Azhar Ali would join the committee, which already included Asad Shafiq, Hasan Cheema, Shan Masood, and Jason Gillespie as voting members.

The panel also featured non-voting members, including Azhar Mahmood (assistant coach), Bilal Afzal (advisor to the PCB chairperson), Nadeem Khan (PCB director of academies), and Usman Wahla (PCB director of international cricket operations). Notably, there was no designated head of the selection committee, which has become common at the PCB recently.

The newly appointed members were tasked with shaping the team’s strategy for success at home and determining the squad composition. They traveled to Multan to meet with Masood, Gillespie, and Tony Hemming (the PCB head curator) to outline a roadmap for success in the upcoming series.

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The roadmap

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision to alter the pitches across the country before Australia’s three-Test tour in February-March 2022 diminished Pakistan’s home advantage. This shift was evident in the results, as Pakistan did not win a single Test at home since implementing this controversial policy. They experienced their first-ever clean sweep at home in December 2022 during England’s last tour.

Their attempt to create seam-friendly pitches for the Bangladesh Tests in August-September also backfired, leading to their first-ever match and series defeat against Bangladesh. This resulted in their second home whitewash.

Recognizing that the team struggled on both flat and seam-friendly surfaces, the selection committee instructed the curator to prepare typical subcontinent pitches, specifically directing that the ball should start turning from the first over. To achieve this, they decided to reuse the pitch for the second Test.

Dropping Babar Azam

Since the beginning of 2023, the former Pakistan captain has been experiencing the toughest phase of his career. He has struggled to score over 50 runs since his century against New Zealand in December 2022, averaging just 20.70 in his last nine Tests.

Shan Masood and coach Jason Gillespie had implemented a policy of giving extended opportunities to the top 15 to 17 players to help them feel secure in their positions. In line with this, Masood had strongly supported Babar Azam in the media, even after Azam scored only 30 and five runs on a flat pitch in the first Multan Test.

However, the selectors were planning significant changes to the squad and presented these ideas to the captain and coach. Discussions focused not only on Azam’s poor form but also on the idea that giving him some time away from the team could help him recover mentally after a difficult year, which included resigning from the national captaincy twice and overseeing Pakistan’s disappointing T20 World Cup campaign.

After some initial resistance from both the captain and coach, they ultimately agreed to drop Azam. This decision led to a broader discussion about changes in the squad and strategy, which also involved input from the five mentors of the new domestic teams, including then-squad member Sarfaraz Ahmed.

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Mohammad Huraira or Kamran Ghulam – who should replace Azam?

 The discussions then shifted to finding a replacement for Babar Azam. The team management leaned towards selecting Mohammad Huraira, a top-order batter, for the second Test. This decision would have placed Huraira at either number three or number four, pushing Shan Masood down to number four.

However, the selectors preferred Kamran Ghulam for his role as a specialist middle-order batter and his impressive track record as a prolific run-scorer in first-class cricket over the past three to four seasons. This decision paid off, as Ghulam scored 118 runs on his debut, becoming the first player to score a century on debut for Pakistan since Abid Ali in 2019. His performance helped Pakistan reach a total of 366 runs, which proved to be sufficient on the reused pitch.

The recalls of Noman Ali and Zahid Mehmood. Sajid Khan comes into mix

After a significant policy shift towards using spin-friendly pitches for home success, Pakistan decided to drop (or rest) Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah from the squad, focusing instead on a spin-heavy attack with the goal of taking all 20 England wickets.

However, the selection committee faced a challenge. Both Ali and Mehmood had been released on the first day of the first Test after failing a fitness test; they couldn’t complete a 2KM run in eight minutes. Since the T20 World Cup disaster, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had implemented a strict fitness policy, meaning selectors could not choose players who didn’t meet the established benchmarks. The three uncapped players—Haseebullah, Mehran Mumtaz, and Kamran Ghulam—were required to undergo fitness tests in Multan before joining the squad.

On the recommendation of the new selection committee members, the PCB decided to relax the fitness standards for this series, allowing Ali and Mehmood to return to the team and recalling Sajid Khan into the 16-player squad. They had to include these players because Abrar Ahmed was recovering from dengue fever and unavailable, and the other spinners lacked the necessary first-class experience.

In an impressive performance, Ali and Khan shared all 20 wickets against England, becoming only the second spin duo in Test cricket history to achieve this feat.

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