The England-West Indies series saw fast bowlers taking most of the wickets. Likewise, the coming series between Pakistan and England will be the pacers’ show all the way. While the two lead seamers in the England side have more than 500 wickets each to their credit, the Pakistani team is comparatively younger. Pakistani pacers are quite talented and skillful, packed with capacity to perform superbly. But they will have to sustain themselves and stay fit.
If spinners have fitness problems, say by ten percent they can still manage. But the pace bowlers cannot play Test matches if they have fitness issues even, say, by five percent. This is because long spells of bowling is the feature of the Tests.
I have no hesitation in saying that Pakistan could not manage to retain the reputation of being a team known by its superb fast bowlers. It was in my time that the same Pakistan used to have pace bowling pairs of Imran Khan and Sarafraz Nawaz. Sikandar Bakht was also the contemporary. This was followed by the likes Wasim Akram and Waqar Yunis. Then came top bowlers like Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amir. But unfortunately, Pakistani bowlers could not keep their otherwise clean image intact. Their names figured in the match fixing cases in 1990s.
The fixing was like cancer that destroyed the Pakistani cricket. In that phase, I was impressed with Waqar Yunis who was spotless and whose bowling skill was also excellent. He used to bowl with full concentration, as if by heart.
If we analyse the Pakistani bowling attack against England, it won’t be right if we don’t analyse their batting. Bowlers won’t be able to experiment too much as long as batsmen don’t score big. At the same time, bowlers will have to have 20 dismissals to win the match. Team Pakistan has fast bowlers like Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Abbas and Mohammad Sohail. It’s not good to form any opinion about them just on the basis of their performance in a select few matches and media reports. All that I would like to say is that they should focus on accuracy and maintain line and length. The ball will get quite a movement there so they need to focus on their line. Short-pitch balls may be converted into huge pile of runs. Swings will also have to be controlled fully. If wicket is not supportive, then they should keep line and length perfect. This is the real secret of success in England. The bowling should not be according to what suits the English batsmen. Balls should not be given where they are comfortable. Pakistani pacers should maintain their line and have patience. They should also close a keep watch over English pacers, especially Anderson and Broad.
Both these bowlers have been most successful on their home soil. Saliva can’t be used to shine the bowl now, but sweat can be. Since rules have to be followed, but this is not a big issue.
Pakistani bowlers should work out their strategy keeping in view wind and weather conditions. The bowler should be able to swing the ball whether swing helps or not. Some of the Pakistani pacers have the ability to do that. They will have to force the batsmen of England to commit mistakes.
It’s disturbing and unfortunate that Pakistan cricket got affected due to some other elements. Pakistan Cricket Board has its own likes and dislikes. The retired talented cricketers there don’t get a chance to be associated with the team. Others should be given the chance like Ramiz Raza who was made commentator.
West Indies cricket has also been ruined. Cricketers like Gayle and Bravo don’t want to play Test anymore. Everyone is obsessed with T20 matches. It should be matter of pride for cricketers to play for their country. We used to get Rs 1,000 for one Test in 1974-75. But we were happy that we were playing for the country. The same feeling should be in every cricketer of the world. Like everyone else, I am also impatiently waiting for the Pakistan-England series. I hope that we will an opportunity to see a high-level cricket in this series.
The author has been a former fast bowler of the Indian Test team.
