Why have Pakistan changed the batting order now?
The Pakistan and Surrey spin bowling legend analyses the tourists’ selection for the final Test
While Mohammad Hafeez has been desperately struggling this series, the decision to bring in Iftikhar Ahmed is one that I disagree with.
It’s simple. If an opener is dropped, or isn’t playing for whatever reason, then you should bring an opener in. Pakistan have shuffled things around by putting Azhar Ali, who has had a decent series at No.3, up to open.
You wouldn’t put a striker in defence at the start of a football match, so why put a batsmen who is so good at No.3 into a different position? It’s asking for trouble. There was so much talk about Joe Root being moved from his No.4 position, and I agree. Keep batsmen where they are comfortable.
There are also talks that Asad Shafiq will go in to bat at three, but it will be either him or Iftikhar. The debutant has played a couple of ODIs for Pakistan and was dismissed by Chris Woakes both times in the autumn, so the England bowler will be confident and have plans against him.
Iftikhar is very well known for his talent in limited-overs cricket and I hope he succeeds. There is a lot of pressure on him now to come into a Test that Pakistan have to win.
Even so, it doesn’t make sense to shuffle the batting order around so much. If this was the start of a new series, Hafeez would be playing because he is one of the better players. Everybody goes through bad patches, just look at Younus Khan, who’s hardly having the best series, and I think Hafeez should have been given this match.
It shows England how panicked Pakistan are and how they have no strategy or plan. They played good cricket yesterday morning, but it seemed the plans soon went out of the window.
These problems all come from picking the squad. There needed to be a proper all-rounder in the squad and it would have given the team a much better balance.
I also think Rahat Ali can count himself a bit unlucky to not be in the Pakistan XI this match. Granted, Wahab Riaz bowled really well yesterday morning, but Rahat Ali would be more effective. Pakistan won the first Test after Rahat Ali got the breakthrough.
I’m not saying Wahab is not a good bowler, because he is a fine bowler, but Rahat is more accurate and gets the ball to swing both ways. On this pitch, it would have been better to have Rahat. There have been so many experiments and there’s just no settled side.
Despite that, Pakistan did have a very good start with the bowlers they went with, though Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali fought really hard to get England back in the game. I have fond memories of the Oval having spent a few outstanding years with Surrey. I took a couple of hat-tricks there, one for Surrey and one for Pakistan, and it’s a wonderful place to play.
We’ve seen on the first day that it offers something for both the batsmen and the bowlers. Pakistan had the best of the morning session but Bairstow and Moeen showed that there’s more than enough in it for the batsmen, too.You can see why Alastair Cook was slightly unsure what to do having won the toss.
You get full value for your shots, but the pace bowlers get their rewards, too. Pakistan’s bowlers were more consistent yesterday morning, and the good deliveries gave the batsmen problems.