One more Asian team has disappointed in England: Aakash Chopra on Pakistan's Test series loss

Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra has mentioned that the Pakistan team's Test series loss in England is another one in the long run of disappointing performances by Asian teams in English conditions.

Aakash Chopra made this observation on his YouTube channel while analysing the Pakistan team's 1-0 defeat in the Test series to England.

The renowned commentator opined that the visitors did not live up to their potential while adding that the scoreline could have been worse.

"Pakistan went to England with a lot of promise. Although if you see, the 1-0 scoreline is really not that much of a problem. You will find that they could have won the first match but they lost that and two matches got washed out due to rain."

Aakash Chopra pointed out that the Pakistan team could have lost the final Test two matches as well, if not for the rain.

"Let's be honest, they were not playing well in the second match, you would have got stuck in that match as well. In the third match it was a pedestrian performance and they would have lost that match as well."

While analysing Pakistan's performances, Aakash Chopra observed that the fast bowlers might have been inexperienced but the tried-and-tested batsmen also didn't live up to expectations.

"So there are problems that you need to address. We have already talked about the three fast bowlers, who are inexperienced. But where there is experience, there was a letdown there as well."

The 42-year-old mentioned that Shan Masood, Azhar Ali and Babar Azam might have shown traces of brilliance but were not consistent through the series.

"Shan Masood scored a century but what about the rest. By the time Azhar Ali got his form, it was too late. That form should have come earlier. Babar Azam played well at the start and the end but he went flat as well in the middle."

Aakash Chopra quipped that he was disappointed to see another Asian team perform poorly in England while adding that the entire team has to gel in those conditions for the results to be favourable.

"So if you have to defeat England in their backyard, then the whole team has to come together and play differently."

"One more Asian team has gone to England and one more Asian team has actually disappointed in the end. This keeps on happening regularly but this team had a lot of promise."

---

Aakash Chopra on the positives in the Pakistan performance

Aakash Chopra labelled Babar Azam as a likely future great of the game

While talking about the positives, Aakash Chopra mentioned that Babar Azam had demonstrated in phases that he could turn out to be a great player.

"If we talk about the positives. Babar Azam showed towards the end and at the start that he is a class player and could be a future great."

The former Delhi opener was particularly effusive in his praise for Pakistan wicket-keeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan.

"Rizwan, the Man of the Series for Pakistan. So, Rizwan the keeper and Rizwan the batsman more importantly has been very good."

161 runs 🏏 6 dismissals 🧤 @iMRizwanPak named Man of the Series. #ENGvPAK pic.twitter.com/9sHXwDqRF2

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) August 25, 2020

Aakash Chopra talked about the centuries scored by Azhar Ali and Shan Masood as the other bright spots.

"Azhar Ali in the end has got a century. Shan Masood had scored a 150 earlier. So these are a few positives."

On the bowling front, Aakash Chopra observed that Yasir Shah lacked consistency even though the leg-spinner was amongst the wickets. He added that the fast bowlers showed potential with the performances likely to get better in the future.

"Yasir is still picking wickets but then he is also bowling bad balls. Fast bowling is showing promise and potential and eventually we will also see performances is what I feel."

Sri Lanka is the last Asian team to have won a Test series in England. The Islanders registered a 1-0 victory in a two-match Test series against the Englishmen in June 2014.