Pakistan’s tour of Ireland, England and Scotland ended on a positive note with some key takeaways for the team…
With the last match against Scotland played on 13th June 2018, Pakistan’s tour of Ireland, England, and Scotland has come to an end. Courtesy Shoaib Malik’s unbeaten 49 off 22 balls and the bowlers’ brilliant performance, the tour ended on a positive note. Overall, the whole tour has been a very successful one for Pakistan. The team lost only one match out of the eight played. Now that the tour has come to end, Team Pakistan will be returning home with some key takeaways.
To begin with, one thing is for sure, the young Pakistan team has some great talent. When the squad for the tour was announced, the fans had been critical about the inclusion of so many young players instead of the more experienced ones. – but the young players have proved themselves by putting up a good show with the bat, the ball, and in the field. Shadab Khan, the bowling all-rounder who had been included in place of the injured Yasir Shah, proved himself with the all-round performance and three consecutive half centuries in the tests. Mohammad Abbas, the right arm pacer, put on a spectacular bowling show, taking 8 wickets for 64 runs at Lord’s in the first test against England.
A winning total?https://t.co/docGUEXtAc #SCOvPAK pic.twitter.com/GEzusUsJ3a
— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) June 13, 2018
Usman Khan and Faheem Ashraf also displayed superb bowling in the last T20I against Scotland. Their superb bowling, combined with Fakhar Zaman’s impressive fielding and Malik’s remarkable knock, helped Pakistan win by 84 runs. What these performances show is that the Pakistan team has a promising future with all this raw talent on its side.
However, Pakistan’s batting has not been too dependable in the past few years and it remains a concern. The batting collapse in the second test against England led them to a humiliating loss in the second test by an innings and 55 runs – Babar Azam’s absence being deeply felt. Similarly, in the second T20I against Scotland, the Pakistan team almost collapsed for a very low total. Thanks to Malik’s excellent batting, the day was saved. But the question remains: how long will the Pakistan team rely on a couple of players to perform with the bat? How long before Pakistan’s batting line-up becomes more dependable?
Before the tougher series with Zimbabwe and Australia, this is something the team must look into. A more dependable batting line-up combined with their already top-class bowling will help the team go a long way.