Saud Shakeel Accepts Batting Failure as the Reason for Pakistan’s Dismal Performance Against England
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Pakistan have been below par, to say the least, in the ongoing three-match Test series against England, which is a part of the World Test Championship, as evidenced by the fact that the Babar Azam-led side hasn’t been able to cross the 200-run mark even once in the five innings that it has played on the tour so far.
The Reason
The reason as to why the Pakistani batters have failed to cope against the English bowlers is that they have been playing on flat decks in Pakistan. Having said that, the argument loses its steam as the pitch being used in the third Test is the flattest of all the three surfaces used in the series.
Player’s Corner
However, middle-order batter Saud Shakeel is of the opinion that Pakistan’s failure with the bat has a lot to do with the overcast conditions that they have to endure after losing the toss and the top order’s inability to see off the new ball.
“The pitch will improve as the Test goes on, but early on, there was juice in it,” Shakeel said. “The toss isn’t in our hands, but we lost it and batted first, and the overcast conditions favoured England there. That was an opportunity to strike up a partnership because the pitch improved as the day went on. With the new ball, even England’s top order struggled, so it was important to see off the new ball.”
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The Realization
Having said that, Shakeel also accepted the fact that the batters have made the same mistakes time and again and will have to find a way to learn from them. “It’s depressing, we’re making the same mistake as a batting unit,” Shakeel said. “We’re getting out in bunches, and there were lots of soft dismissals today. We’re trying, but yes, it’s frustrating that we keep making the same mistakes. I don’t think it’s a confidence issue. If you don’t have the confidence to play at this level, then you don’t deserve to play here. But in difficult conditions, poor form can be quite hard to break out of.”
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The Approach
Amid all the chaos that has surrounded Pakistan cricket since the end of the second Test, with as many as seven players being replaced in the middle of the series, along with the head coach, Saud Shakeel is the only batter who has looked in some sort of form after coming into the team for the previous match.
When asked about his approach in the first innings of the final match, which saw Pakistan getting bowled out for 133 runs, Shakeel said, “I try to play according to the demands of any situation,” he said. “With wickets falling around me, the best option for me was to make as many runs as I could. So I was batting quicker to adjust to the situation around me.”
“The conditions were challenging, especially at Lord’s.” “Over there, even someone like Joe Root struggled and has had a difficult series. I was surprised with the conditions here. If you look at the New Zealand series and compare it to this one, there is a lot of lateral movement here. We are not used to that, perhaps. But we were trying our best. We accept our batting failures, but the conditions are also in the favour of the bowlers,” Shakeel concluded.
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