Australia thrashed Pakistan by 360 runs in the first match of the 3 match test series in their own backyard at Perth to take a healthy 1-0 lead. Though the Pakistani batters had to take all the brunt of non performance by getting all out for a meagre 89 runs in the second innings, Pakistani bowlers couldn’t also be saved by the horrendous performance they delivered in the course of the entire test match especially the first innings which irked the likes of former Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali who slammed this performance.
In the ongoing test series vs Australia ,during the first innings at Optus Stadium in Perth, Pakistani bowlers produced a horrendous performance with the ball. This allowed Australians to pile up 487 runs in their first innings with a healthy run rate rate and then went on to thrash Pakistan by bowling them for a mere 89 runs in the process to win the test match by whopping 360 runs to take a 1-0 lead in a three match test series
The Pakistani bowlers in the process of bowling out Australia failed to assess the conditions suitable for bowling during the first half of the Australian innings. Some fielding lapses and lackluster line and lengths from the the bowlers has now allowed the Australians to seek early advantage in the ongoing test match.
It seemed throughout the Australian innings that the Pakistani bowlers did not had a proper plan or rather failed to execute the plan on the field while bowling. The continuous misreading of line and lengths and excessive use of short ball bouncers with minimal pace led to the downfall of the plan to bowl out Australia early in the innings. This led to Pakistan now being on the backfoot and now playing the catching up game with Australia in the remaining of the Test match series .
Azhar Ali furious on Pakistan’s bowling unit
Azhar Ali, one of the finest players to have donned Pakistan whites, who still plays first-class cricket and very recently scored his 49th first-class hundred was very much irked by this performance and took the bowlers to the wall considering them equally responsible for a disastrous defeat.
“The sort of uneven bounce we saw on the fourth day is no surprise Pakistan was bowled out for 89. It was very difficult coping with that awkward variable bounce all the time,” said Azhar Ali.
Azhar came down heavily on bowling unit, which he feels over the years had not come to the fore for Pakistan in the past few Test series Down Under.
“How many times have the bowlers bowled out Australia for low scores whereas the batsmen have from time to time put up good totals?” he questioned.
“Unless you bowl out Australia for under 250-300, you can’t expect to win matches Down Under,” he stated.
Azhar Ali who himself was a part of the tour down under in 2016 and scored a double century at MCG against the likes of then Australian bowling attack observed that Shaheen Shah Afridi and rest of the bowling attack got carried away by the bounce and weren’t disciplined enough to hit one length consistently.
“Many times our bowlers get carried away with the bounce and pace but the fact is you have to hit a consistent length to get wickets in Australia,” he added.
He pointed out that it had been a long time since Pakistani bowling attack had taken 20 wickets in a match in Australia whereas in this period many times Pakistan did put up big totals.
“Unless you take 20 wickets how can you expect to win against a tough opposition like Australia in their own backyard,” he further added.
Interestingly for the fact It was only during Pakistan’s tour to Australia in 2010 , Pakistani bowlers were able to bowl out Australia twice for low scores at Sydney but again the batters faltered in the gettable target of mere 176 runs in the fourth innings to eventually lose the match. Azhar opined that Pakistan should have played one more specialist bowler in place of either Faheem Ashraf or Salman Ali Agha in Perth.
After so much drubbing from the fans and former Pakistani cricketers it would be interesting to see which Pakistani side turns up to challenge the might of Australia on the Boxing Day Test starting 26th December 2023.