Earlier this week, in the first Test match in Multan, England defeated Pakistan by an innings and 47 runs in a thrilling victory. Michael Vaughan, a former captain of England, said without hesitation that this was the weakest Pakistani team he had ever seen.
Pakistan wanted to make a big impression on the Three Lions after losing badly to Bangladesh in a home Test series earlier this month. England’s ‘Bazball’ strategy destroyed the host team’s chances of redemption, despite them scoring 556 in the first innings. Despite only having batted for 150 overs, the visitors declared for an enormous 823/7. Pakistan was humiliated once more as they could only muster 220 in their second innings.
Even though Vaughan didn’t think much of Pakistan, he was pleased with England’s extremely aggressive batting strategy and the bowling unit’s discipline.
“I can’t recall ever seeing Pakistan like this before. However, it is really remarkable to make 823 for seven at 5.5 runs per over while appearing to be in complete control and taking few chances. I found the way the bowling attack came together to be the most stunning thing. It was evident what each person’s role was. And that’s precisely what Brendon McCullum likes to see—they rose to the job and stuck to their mission gallantly,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
I wasn’t clear why, at the beginning of the summer, England chose Shoaib Bashir above Jack Leach as their front-line spinner: Michael Vaughan
Vaughan stated that the only thing that worried England was that Shoaib Bashir was now their preferred spin bowler, surpassing Jack Leach, particularly after the latter had masterminded Pakistan’s collapse in the second innings.
“Choosing Shoaib Bashir over Leach to be the front-line spinner was the one decision I was unsure about at the beginning of the summer. Although Leach outbowled Bashir in Multan and had a fantastic season for Somerset, I can still see Bashir’s promise. I play spin bowling somewhat traditionally. All your finger spinner needs to do is bowl.
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That’s how you pick things up, adapt to the environment, and gradually change your release point and attacking angle. Simply put, Bashir hasn’t bowled all that much this summer,” he continued. Beginning on Tuesday, October 15, the second Test will also take place at Multan Cricket Stadium.
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