Pakistan has given their team a chance to wreck England in the 2nd innings. The batters had a topsy-turvy outing, with Razaullah & Shan Masood’s half-century gritty knocks that allowed the team to set a target of 130. Pakistan’s batting coach Michael Smith was quite optimistic for the batters despite them having a torrid run throughout the series. Michael Smith was quite sure that Pakistan has a good blend of talent in batting arena.
England have a great chance of clean sweeping Pakistan & winning the series by 3-0. Joe Root, though, would be unhappy given Pakistan’s tail wagged immensely & now has raised questions over their bowling despite having a stellar Test series. It might sound harsh but England’s bowlers lacked the X factor after Shan Masood’s 95 & Razaullah’s blistering 81.
Introspection and Radical Changes in the Pakistan Team
The woeful batting performances in the First 2 test matches by the Pakistan cricket team, surrendering meekly to the England team and being unable to score substantial runs, called for immediate introspection regarding the selection of the players on the Tour. This introspection came as the worst chapter in Pakistan cricket, where in mid-tour, the Head coach, bowling coach, and as many as seven players from the touring squad to England were called back with immediate effect and a setof 7 new players were sent to England for the final test, which included as many as 5 new faces.
This immediate change had its effect in the 1st innings of the 3rd test where Pakistan was skittled out for paltry 133 runs in their 1st innings batting first raising another question: Was it really neccessary to do such changes in a team who apart from 3 to 4 players had no prior experience of an English tour. While many would answer it as a strong NO after seeing the woeful continuation in batting performances, Pakistan’s batting coach Michael Smith thinks otherwise and as a coach, sees a light in the new talent with a team in transition.
We have got exciting players- Michael Smith
Michael Smith, Pakistan batting coach despite his team’s woeful batting in almost the entire English series , staying positive has expressed that there is always light at the end of a dark tunnel throughout his experience with the team amidst the performances. Michael Smith also maintained the fact that in the 3rd test where in batting prospect , the Team went in radical changes due to batting performances , the atmosphere whether the team was always positive . He stressed on the fact that there was some positive sides shown in the newer crop that was added to the Pakistan test team . He said :
“Boys are in a good space. It’s been tough, it’s been challenging,” he said.
“We’ve come up against a good bowling unit in home conditions who have been excellent.”
Michael Smith, further stressed on the fact that learning from this tour would be more important for a team in Transition as the young players who had their first experience batting in England will learn a lot and improve their skills in the near future to turn out as good batters . He said :
Also Read: ENG vs PAK: Ollie Robinson’s 8-Wicket Haul Seals Series