Pakistan vs England: Pakistan’s batting has become quite boring (which is good)

Second day of the match was quite dull as compared to the first one. It was as if Pakistan was aware of the fact that the stands were empty, so they played according to the “situation”. Apart from some courageous shots by Hafeez, the best entertaining thing was the “English Orchestra” which was sitting at the stands.

But this is a very positive sign that Pakistan’s batting has become dull. Though I’m not at all suggesting that there is no need for a bit accelerated run-rate, the thing is at-least the scorers have to work for what they are getting paid for, unlike the last time (when Pakistan toured England) when crossing the hundred-mark seemed like a Herculean task . So in simple words, boring is not best but it is good.

Apart from Hafeez’s unexplained pull or hook (or whatever you like to call it) and Azhar’s “mysterious” dismissal, all Pakistani batsmen played sensibly. England had to work quite hard to get the wickets; had to bowl some peaches (like the delivery on which Taufeeq Umar got bowled) to get results in their favor. Azhar Ali has to improve his “instincts”, has to improve his judgment because it was not the brilliance of Broad that got him, it was his “constant” behavior of hanging his bat against wide deliveries, just to give a faint nick straight to the keeper.

Anyhow, aside from playing a bit slow (especially when you consider the fact that openers gave a very solid platform), Pakistan has batted quite nicely if not incredibly. If somehow, we can get a lead of about 150+ (though it’s too much to ask), we have a very fair chance to draw first blood and take a lead in the series. Let’s hope and pray that Saeed Ajmal does the trick once again and achieve his rightful Man of the Match award.