England defied all odds as they beat Pakistan with their counter-aggressive game plan in the first Test of the historic tour. On a flat Rawalpindi surface, England went all guns blazing in the final session of the last day to win the match by 74 runs. That was only possible because they scored over 900 runs per over during the Test match and got the ball to reverse on Day 5.
Danish Kaneria, a former Pakistan leg-spinner, slammed Pakistan captain Babar Azam and PCB chief Ramiz Raja for the team’s performance in the series opener. He stated that the two people in charge will make excuses, but not learn from their mistakes.
“Abhi hamari management ake baat karegi, Babar Azam baat karenge, PCB k head baat karenge ‘acchi cricket kheli England ne, hume unse seekhna chaie. Toh seekho na. Kab seekhoge? Time Guzar jayega. (Now our management will talk, Babar Azam and PCB chief will say ‘England played well, we should learn from them’. Then learn, when will you? It’s already too late),” Kaneria said on his YouTube channel.
Kaneria, Pakistan’s only Test spinner with more than 250 Test wickets, made a distasteful remark while criticising young Pakistani pacers who are unable to extract reverse swing like their English counterparts. He stated that the Pakistan team management will now blame Shaheen Shah Afridi’s absence.
“They might blame Shaheen Afridi’s absence for the loss. If he’s not available, then dusre achar bechne aaye thhe? (Others came to sell pickles?) Where are the planning and strategy, where is the reverse swing?” he said.
Ollie Robinson and James Anderson each took four wickets as Pakistan were bowled out for 268 in their second innings. England captain Stokes should also receive a lot of credit for daring to declare around Tea on Day 4, giving Pakistan a good chance to win with a target of 342. Pakistan, according to Kaneria, should learn from Stokes’ captaincy and be fearless in their approach to winning a Test match.
“We only talk about the revival of international cricket in Pakistan. Pura din wahi manjan chal raha hota hai (the same discussion continues the entire day). Pakistan were clueless. Babar Azam should learn from Ben Stokes’ captaincy. Coaches around the world should also learn from Brendon McCullum. Their team doesn’t fear loss, but ours does.
“Our management fears losses. They only say that the team has been doing good. We are the No. 1 team. How can the Asia Cup happen without us? etc., but we don’t check where our cricket is heading. We made the wicket which was called dead rubber in Rawalpindi,” he added.
