OPINION
Follow Us145 kph. Full in length, ripping in in trajectory, straight into the pads. Despite his idiosyncratic stance, Fawad Alam gets into the right position at the moment the bowler releases the ball. However, Mitchell Starc is so quick in the air, Alam is a tad late on the ball in the process of completing all trigger movements.
A huge appeal follows. Maybe this is going down the leg side. Maybe not. But it is such a good delivery that you want to give the benefit of doubt to the bowler rather than the batsman. You also feel sad for Alam. He spent the entirety of the Rawalpindi Test without getting a chance to bat or bowl. Only one catch came his way and he spilled it. Add the toll of this match and he spent over 593 overs in the series without making any significant contribution. Now, on his first ball, he received the best delivery of the series until then.
That feeling of sadness for the batter is only lived here. The focus quickly shifts to the next delivery. Starc is on a hat-trick. Coming around the wicket to Mohammad Rizwan, he bowls another jaffa but it beats the outside edge.
Fast bowlers didn’t seem to have much of a business in the series. But at this point, they had livened up.
This was the 26th over of the innings and the seventh of the afternoon session. An analysis segment from Mike Haysman towards the end of the day’s play showed that the Aussie quicks generated more swing from overs 22 to 29 than at any point in the day. In that particular session, Australia picked six wickets for 62 runs in 20 overs. The over-rate comes out to be poor but that is just a number. The game has never moved at such a piece in the series as yet.
Pakistan were all out for 148 in response to Australia's 556/9. The visitor’s plan to pile up a big total and put the pressure on the opposition’s batting worked like a charm. But it was not the spinners who did the damage as expected, it was the fast bowlers. Starc’s figures read 13-5-29-3 at the end of the innings. Skipper Pat Cummins and Cameron Green snaffled one wicket each. Cummins had Rizwan dance to his tunes of a hint of movement around the testing off-stump channel. Green pinned Faheem Ashraf in front of the stumps with another sharp in-swinger.
This is something Australia had worked on in the lead up to the tour. “We didn't really experience it this summer with grassy wickets, short games, whereas over there it can be a real weapon so trying to upskill that," Cummins said before boarding the plane for Pakistan. It is important to note that this is Australia’s first away series since Ashes 2019. The home conditions for Cummins and co. are not conducive to reverse swing with lush green outfields.
Moreover, a lot of these games have been short games as Cummins mentioned. Since October 2019, the Test batting average in Australia has been 28.7, in the lower half of the batting average by host countries. Both the factors prevent the ball from getting old and scuffed up from one side for reverse swing. Consequently, Australia had not bowled enough reverse swing for a while. "We haven't bowled a lot of reverse swing in the last year or so but it's a huge factor going into the subcontinent,” Cummins reflected on the same.
The reverse was not available in Rawalpindi. However, Karachi offered a much harder square with barren practice pitches surrounding the main strip. It is the same reason why in England, the Oval, home of the Surrey County Cricket Club, offers more reverse swing than any other venue.
“This track is much more abrasive”, said Starc after the day’s play. “I feel there are more cracks on this abrasive wicket and this has played a big part in us achieving reverse swing.” While both teams had similar conditions at their disposal, the tactics and the compactness of the Australian pace attack were better.
When Shaheen Shah Afridi found some reverse swing in the 52nd over of the innings, the second last over from that end before tea, he was removed from the attack. Yes, that was the last over of a long spell but Babar Azam didn’t bring him after tea. Instead, he opted for 28 overs of benign spin, most of which was composed of a negative line tactic. The next over Shaheen bowled was with the new ball in the 81st over.
On the contrary, Cummins was more proactive. Nathan Lyon had picked the wicket of the last ball of his seventh over. But when Cummins found a hint of reverse swing in his subsequent over, he introduced Starc in the attack right away, replacing the off-spinner. Talk about striking when the iron is hot. In to the third over of his spell, Starc produced the over that ripped Pakistan into pieces. They never recovered from losing Azhar Ali and Alam on consecutive deliveries, which pushed them to 60/4.
At the end of the day’s play, Pakistan seamer Hasan Ali shed light on another difference between the two attacks. “The Australian pacers bowl at a speed of 140-plus, but we are not that quick, that's the difference between the two sides,” he said.
Pakistan are now in search of a miracle to save this Test.
