There was a time when England were always bothered against Pakistan. It could be in England or it could be in Pakistan. They had a mental block that just did not go away whenever they were up against Pakistan. Somehow, Pakistan managed to find that additional energy when it came to England. Things have, however, changed over the last 5 years. Not only England are not scared of Pakistan but they have begun to dominate them in a way only a few teams have done in the past. The Multan win was one such instance of England displaying their might. Fashioning such a win was something extraordinary. Though it was on the back of a couple of fabulous innings from Root and Brook, the bowlers too much be credited for the victory.
Pakistan did this the last time around. A couple of years ago, the pitches in all the 3 Tests between these two teams in Pakistan were plain batting tracks. Runs were there for the taking. The bowlers were never in the picture. All the batsmen had to do was just stay on the wicket, the runs will come. The Pakistan team, the board and the curators basically wanted Pakistan to draw the games for which such placid tracks will help. It would have been alright for the England of the past but the present England team, which specialises on Bazball, this is a wrong strategy.
Not looking to draw games
They do not play for draws anymore. They are intent on winning every game and are prepared to risk losing inorder to win. The attitude shift has been brought about by Ben Stokes and Brendan McCullum. It does not mean that the players were not to be credited but the fact that they brought into the scheme of things, meant that all of them could express themselves and would not be reprimanded for any fault. This is the attitude that the English players carried onto the field at Multan too and this was the trap that Pakistan fell into. They did not learn the lessons from the last series. Against the power hitters of England, preparing batting track is equal to suicide. Which insane fellow asked for such pitches is beyond me.
Did they want to help Babar Azam and the rest to score runs and thereby increase their averages? Did they want to help Babar Azam in particular so that he can be counted among the greats of the game? I do not know. What I know for sure is that on such pitches, against the poor quality of Pakistan’s bowlers, they were asking for trouble.
The sheer pace
The sheer pace of batting left the Pakistan team crumbled. They spent three days on the field running after the ball to all parts of the ground. England scored 478 runs from ones and twos. As a result, the players who batted in the 2nd innings were a bunch of tired legs.
Woakes said, “Here in the subcontinent, you can have three supposedly dull days and then the game can happen quickly. That was always the plan: once we were able to get ahead and run them ragged in the field, it was always going to be hard for them, even on that surface.”
If the opposition is not careful about the scoring rate, England will quickly runaway with the game. Especially, if the pitch does not crumble, their opposition will have serious problem because of the sheer scoring rate. Whether a pitch that helped the spinners would have paved a win for Pakistan is another question because I don’t think they have the quality of players to win against England but atleast it would have lessen the pain of such hammering.
Joe Root and the purple patch
Root went past Cook during the course of the innings and became the highest run scorer for England. This is hard to imagine until a few years ago. Towards the end of 2020, Root’s average was at an all-time low of 47. His average between 2018 and 2020 was less than 40. There were suggestions that he just did not belong to the level of Kohli, Smith and Williamson. More than 4000 runs since then including 18 hundreds has left Root as the most consistent batsman during this period. The next is Karunaratne with just over 2000 runs. Smith, Williamson and Kohli, who are his compatriots when it comes to the marketing gimmick of fab-4, are nowhere to be seen.
Having said that, has Root really cemented his legacy? Only time can answer. The next year’s Ashes in Australia, which will be his last in that country, will be his final opportunity to correct an anomaly. He hasn’t scored a single hundred in Australia. With the prospect of 10 innings, if he returns without a single hundred, his reputation will be tarnished forever. With captaincy of his chest and the confidence of runs behind him, the odds are for him to succeed finally.
Harry Brook is another batsman to watch out for. He has developed a liking for Pakistan. So much so that, 4 of his hundreds, including the mammoth triple, have come against them in that country.
Wrapping up fashioning such a win
England’s series results under McCullum have been a mixed bag. They have beaten teams they would expect to, drawn with Australia, and lost heavily in India earlier this year but it is their style and approach that has made them such a compelling team to watch. This display at Multan will only reemphasise their approach to Bazball cricket. It has worked like a charm against most of the teams.
Other blogs
https://icricketcritique.com/england-vs-pakistan-series-to-forget/
https://icricketcritique.com/pakistan-lost-because-of-their-own-stupidity/