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“Where’s the Bazball, mate?”
As Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq plodded through
the second half of the day with the urgency of a Sunday morning beach visitor,
it was a familiar refrain in the Perth press centre. Pakistan needed 50 balls
to surpass Australia’s 14 runs in the opening over of the Test match.
Imam-ul-Haq started off well, scoring two runs off his fourth delivery, but it
took him an additional hour and a half to score his next run. On the first day,
David Warner reached his half-century off 41 balls; Pakistan required 26 overs
to catch up to them. Those in attendance, from a team that had pledged to play
an entertaining style of cricket to attract spectators to Test cricket, may
have been justified in feeling they were shortchanged.
The day before, skipper Shan Masood made a lot of big
talk about the Pakistan Way. While this has quickly come to be associated with
England’s self-described style of play, Masood described Pakistan’s own
“exciting brand of cricket” as still very much in its infancy. So
far, its whole existence consists of two Test matches, one in Galle and one in
Colombo. Furthermore, although spending a fortnight in Sri Lanka may seem like
a fun experience, it’s definitely best not to use the country as a test tube
for cricket theory.
The work being done by Pakistan is far more
significant than just giving out simple dopamine spikes. Though short cameos
and crushing losses are unlikely to help Pakistan’s cause, Masood may have
underlined the importance of playing attractive cricket in order to help the
country secure additional Test matches against nations such as Australia.
Shafique and Imam realised they were better off playing the ball in front of
them than the press conference that took place 48 hours ago against Australia’s
nearly faultless four-pronged attack on a surface that was much spicier than
Australia’s first innings score and Pakistan’s drab bowling suggested.
The bowlers from Australia did not miss their lines.
Compared to Pakistan’s fast bowlers, they were quicker, more accurate, and
found more movement. They also generated enough quality to have succeeded on a
better day. However, Pakistan’s opening batsmen declined to offer them a
quarter at the same moment. While working on the game, Ravi Shastri said he was
really impressed with Shafique. Although Pakistan doesn’t need anyone to tell
them how wonderful Shafique has the potential to be, it doesn’t hurt to have
someone who has experience with successful recent tours to Australia give their
blessing.
Pakistan may have run on the radical progressive side
of the party in the build-up to the election, but since Masood took office,
they have shifted to the pragmatic centre. Few would contest that the openers’
mission, to eliminate Australia’s most potent fast bowling trio, was not well
accomplished. There was only one way to think about it: there were many ways to
lose this Test, but there was also no way to win it in one evening.
On day two, Pakistan outclassed Australia by bowling
them out in just under two sessions and losing just one wicket in nearly fifty
overs. This was a better day for Pakistan than they had on their entire
previous tour. However, Masood’s wicket arrived before the day was out, as it
always does following an all too brief period of suspense.
However, such could not yet be stated about the team
because of the way Pakistan batted. Being competitive two days into a Perth
Test is excitement enough for a squad that has only experienced hurt and
heartbreak in Australia, but it wouldn’t be Pakistan if there wasn’t some
goalpost-shifting regarding what the Pakistan Way actually means. After all,
when in Pakistan did the radical progressives ever stand a chance to hold onto
power?