Test Cricket Not Secure For Pakistan Outside as well

This was one last thing that the Pakistan captain captain Mohammed Yusuf would have ever thought about. A loss despite bowling the opposition all out for 127 in their first innings! A loss despite chasing a modest total of 176 on board! This can never get worse anymore for Pakistan cricket. One would have expected the Pakistan team to return playing test cricket with a bang. But, they have redefined what losing means to the entire world after their stunning loss to Australia in the 2^nd test at Sydney by 36 runs. Had it been Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, even those nations would have snatched a win from Australia after being in such a comfortable situation.

I remember Zimbabwe beating Australia in the league stages of the inaugural world T20 held at South Africa in 2007 by chasing 139 runs in the penultimate ball of their innings. Many a times, Pakistan in the past have been found to escape from the jaws of defeat despite being in a horrible situation. One such instance would be the first test when Inzamam's men toured India at Mohali, where Pakistan were bowled out on day 1 for a score of 312 and India in reply put forward 516 runs on the board with a lead of 204 runs which is needless to be said whatsoever.

When all thought that an innings win was on the cards for India, Asif Kamal & Kamran Akmal step in to spoil India's party by batting until the beginning of day 5 to see that the match is drawn. According to me, the blame game should start with the Pakistani bowlers allowing Mike Hussey to score a magnificent hundred that saw the total boost by an additional 95 runs for the remaining two wickets on day 4. Isn't this too costly for any team for the two wickets they are supposed to take? The ninth wicket partnership lasted for as long as 44.4 overs and bought up an additional 123 runs between Hussey & Siddle. I wonder as to how can any responsible team allow such a room!

Australia did each and everything they could do to get back to the game and the Pakistani players gave them the support they needed. If one goes through the scorecard of the test, it is evident that Pakistan went wrong in every department of the game. They lost 9 wickets on day 2 when they were expected to spend time in the middle. This was followed by the 9^th wicket partnership that is highlighted above. Then, when they were expected to chase a modest of totals of 176 with almost 2 days & 10 wickets in hand, they made a mess by losing all their wickets even before a duration of a day was over. Added to that was Hauritz' 5 wicket haul against a team that plays spin better comparatively.

With these facts in front, I wish even Pakistan should think against touring any nation to play a test like other teams are found doing regarding Pakistan.