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The Test Series Between Pakistan And England’s Worst Performers

The year 2022 will be remembered as one of the worst for Pakistan’s Test cricket.

The year 2022 will be remembered as one of the worst for Pakistan’s Test cricket. Only one of the eight Test matches played by the Babar Azam-led team so far this year has ended in victory.
The worst happened this month when they were thoroughly defeated by England in a three-match Test series. This result broke numerous long-standing records, including the record for consecutive losses in Pakistan.

Since the present fast bowling unit fell short of expectations, the absence of the elite pacers was cited as an excuse by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the team, who both received harsh criticism for the defeat.

With 348 and 346 runs, respectively, Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel were the only players to perform brilliantly, completing the series as the third and fourth-leading run scorers. The rest of the hitting lineup had trouble the entire series.
Despite making a valiant 114 in the first game, Abdullah Shafique, who was in terrific form earlier this year, struggled against England’s bowlers, amassing 213 runs in six innings.

While amassing 184 runs in six innings, including two fifties with the best score of 56, Agha Salman, who started his Test career earlier this year, did not particularly stand out.
Mohammad Rizwan was predicted to bounce back in the series, but his 141 runs in six innings, with the best score of 46, were not enough to make up for a disappointing performance in white-ball cricket earlier in the season.

Azhar Ali, the team’s most seasoned batter, too had a bad series, accumulating 112 runs in four innings, which may have prompted him to call it quits before playing his 100th Test match. Let’s look at the statistics:

Batter Innings Runs Average 100s 50s
Abdullah Shafique 6 213 35.50 1 0
Agha Salman 6 184 36.80 0 2
Mohammad Rizwan 6 141 23.50 0 0
Azhar Ali 4 112 28.00 0 0
As Shaheen was ruled out well in advance of the series and Naseem and Haris missed the second and third games, respectively, owing to injuries, bowling was one of the main causes that put Pakistan on the back foot.
The lone bowler that excelled in the series was Abrar Ahmad. With 17 wickets in just two games, the mysterious spinner continued to lead the series in wickets taken. Later, it was questioned as to why he was not selected for the Rawalpindi Test’s opening round.
Although Zahid Mahmood played in two games and took 12 wickets in the series, he did not perform as well at home as other Pakistani spinners had in the past.

Mohammad Ali, a second debutant, got four wickets in the first two matches but let up a lot of runs in the opening Test in Pindi. He and Haris Rauf permitted the guests to score unheard-of runs.
Faheem Ashraf, who was chosen for the last game in Karachi, also had trouble with the ball and the bat, scoring just 37 runs and failing to claim any wickets. For Pakistani bowlers, the series went as follows:
Bowler Innings  Wickets Average
Abrar Ahmad 4 17 27.17
Zahid Mahmood 4 12 36.16
Naseem Shah 2 5 41.20
Nauman Ali 2 4 41.00
Mohammad Ali 2 4 65.25

The two-match Test series between Pakistan and New Zealand will start on December 26, and everyone will need to play well to get out of this rut. The team’s morale will be further lowered if it is dependent on one or two players.

Written by Aly Bukshi

The editorial staff at IPIN is a team of news publishing experts led by Aly Bakshi. We publish interesting and informative news/articles all over the world. Our aim is to provide readers with the latest and most up-to-date information possible.