Pakistan's lucky escape at Abu Dhabi

England’s chance to take a 1-0 lead in the series was halted by bad light, Pakistan v England, First Test, Day 5, Abu Dhabi, 2015

The weather in Abu Dhabi was sultry while the track was as flat as the highway roads, where run scoring was easy. Both the Pakistani and English bowlers toiled hard under the hot sun and gave their best shot to extract support from the track, but it frustrated them time and again. For the first four days, the tale of the Abu Dhabi track sparked enormous criticisms which overshadowed the comeback story of Shoaib Malik, Alastair Cook’s unique feat and Wahab Riaz’s lively spell of pace bowling. Four-and-half-days of mind-numbingly somnolent cricket was heading for a dull draw.

Surely, one would have given up following the proceedings in Abu Dhabi from day 4 where there was not even the slightest of indications of a dramatic turnaround to offer excitement. But, cricket is such an unpredictable game that one can never know when an unwanted drama can unfold from nowhere. And when cricket’s most unpredictable team is playing out there, one cannot afford to switch off the television.

Pakistan’s reply in the second innings was shaky. Shan Massod offered a lackluster back-foot defense, which led the ball to roll onto the stumps and then, James Anderson dished out a vicious bouncer on such a dead track to leave Shoaib Malik clueless. Immediately Pakistan were reduced to 3 for 2. Mohammad Hafeez and Younis Khan started to calm things down, but Hafeez attempted a half-hearted and casual effort to reach the non-striker’s end and was run out by a direct throw.

Pakistan were left tottering at 47 for 3 and their two most experienced batsmen, Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, calmed things down. But, the English captain Alastair Cook didn’t sit back and relax. He shunned the conventional method of field placements and went for the innovative ways to make things happen.

The story of Pakistan’s implosion

He set an umbrella field on the leg side and advised his pace bowlers to deliver the late-inswingers and off-cutters and flummox the batters with occasional away-swingers. James Anderson and co followed his advice and kept Misbah and Younis under pressure till the end of tea. Younis and Misbah weathered the storm well, but Cook has been successful in injecting panic in the Pakistani camp with his tactical brilliance.

At tea, Pakistan were 102 for 3 and some and sense and sensibility was needed from these two batsmen to end the day without making the weather heavy.

But the story after tea was all about Pakistan’s implosion.

With track beginning to take a sharp turn, Cook relied on the off spin of Moeen Ali and leg spin of Adil Rashid, who went for figures of 0 for 163 in the first innings with an attacking field. Moeen Ali was more threatening, but it was to be Rashid’s day.

Younis Khan went for a nothing-shot against Adil Rashid and got out while Misbah-ul-Haq’s uncharacteristic attempt to attack Moeen Ali resulted in his demise and it also triggered the panic button. The last seven wickets fell for just 60 runs and the wrecker in chief was Adil Rashid, who grabbed five wickets in the second innings. Pakistan lost their last five wickets for just 14 runs in 30 balls and with due respect to Rashid, he must be thankful to the erratic display of the Pakistani batsmen for his wickets.

England needed just 99 runs to pull-off one of the most epic victories in the history of Test cricket and Jos Butler, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow’s power-hitting revived the memories of the third Test match at Karachi in 2000 where Pakistan collapsed in a similar fashion and England went on to script a memorable series win. England were left to score just 25 runs against the fading light, but the umpires halted the day’s play after assessing the conditions just they had done the previous evening. England’s brilliant display was denied by a fading light.

Just 16 wickets had fallen on the first four days, whereas 11 wickets fell in the final session that lasted for 31.5 overs.

How dramatic Test cricket can be!

Pakistan should consider themselves lucky. They were almost gifted a shocking defeat by the Englishmen and for once the men in green can’t sit back and relax by thinking that beating this English team will be a cakewalk like 2012. The current English team is blessed with determination and Cook’s dynamic and innovative captaincy makes this team look even better. If Pakistan don’t become careful and steady, then England might be the winner at the end of the day.