Pakistan cricket team fell just 78 runs short of England’s first innings total of 657 in the ongoing Test match in Rawalpindi, however, it took them almost two days to score those 579 runs. Despite a flat deck, Pakistan batters took their usual time to get their eyes in as Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq and skipper Babar Azam slammed centuries. Even though the hosts reduced the deficit significantly, former Pakistan wicket-keeper batter Kamran Akmal has blasted Babar Azam and Co. for their batting approach.
Akmal gave the example of how England came out all guns blazing and despite being the visiting team coming to Pakistan gave the home team a lesson on how to play Test cricket in their own backyard. England amassed 657 runs in just 101 overs as it took them less than four sessions to post a monumental score on a lifeless Rawalpindi surface.
Referring to Brian Lara’s marathon world record knock of 400*, Akmal said that the former West Indies batter played that knock on a similar surface and Pakistan batters have the talent to play like that.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Akmal said, “Unhone sava din me itne runs bana liye. Vo out ho rahe the par scoreboard nahi ruk raha tha. Vo Pakistan aake humein bata rahe hain ki Test cricket kaise khelna chahiye. Ye jaisi wicket bani hai, record banna chahiye tha kisi batsman ka. Aisi wicket Brian Lara ko mili thi, usne 400 run banaaye the. Inn batsmen ke paas bhi talent tha ki vo bana sakte the. (England made these many runs in almost 1.25 days. They were getting out but continued scoring. They came to Pakistan and taught us how to play. But the way this wicket is made, some batsman should have made a record. Brian Lara got such wicket and he scored 400. These batsmen also have talent to play a knock like that.)”
Akmal said that not just Pakistan, even England would feel that they missed a golden opportunity of scoring even more as they went from 515-4 to 576-7 and lost the momentum before Will Jacks’ innings helped them get to 657.
“Pehle England ne opportunity miss ki, fir Pakistan ne miss ki. Thode runs tez karne chahiye the. Score chalta rehta, ye 200 balls khele hain toh Abdullah and Imam ke 170-180 runs hone chahiye the. Fir unke paas mauka tha 250-300 runs banaane ka. Pressure fir England pe aana tha, kal ka din bhi khelte. England waale itne thake hote ki aage out bhi ho sakte the. (England missed the chance, and then Pakistan did. Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq should’ve scored 170-180 runs in 200 deliveries, then, they would’ve had a chance to go for 250-300. This would’ve put pressure on England and they might have been dismissed early as well, because they would’ve got tired),” Akmal added.
England got a 78-run lead and have already lost three wickets in the second innings.
