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Pakistan face England in a three-Test series starting Monday in Multan with the visitors favorites to inflict more damage on a team mired in a painful losing streak.
England’s 3-0 whitewash on their final trip to Pakistan in 2022 was the first clean sweep by a visiting team in the country and plunged the hosts into a crisis that left them winless in their 10 latest home tests.
The visitors will be buoyed by the memories of that famous victory, but will begin the series without talismanic leader Ben Stokes, who will miss the first Test with a hamstring injury.
With England sitting third in the ICC Test rankings, five places above Pakistan, they head to South Asia with an inexperienced attack following the retirement of James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
Pakistan, meanwhile, are known for their unpredictability and will be desperate to erase the humiliation of a shock 2-0 defeat at the hands of bottom-ranked Bangladesh last month.
Captain Shan Masood, whose tenure was marred by a five-game losing streak, said his players were motivated to prove themselves.
“We took steps in the right direction in Australia despite losing, but we couldn’t take them forward in the Bangladesh series,” Masood said this week.
“We look forward to making a return to this important series.”
– Trial of Azam –
Pakistan cricket is struggling in all formats, with a revolving door of bosses and allegations of nepotism crushing the development of the country’s most popular sport.
Superstar batsman Babar Azam gave up the white-ball captaincy this week, saying he wanted to focus on his batting after a drought of 16 Test innings without a half-century.
The three Tests in Multan and Rawalpindi scheduled to conclude on October 28 will be the first test of the 29-year-old’s renewed commitment to his craft.
“We all know what a good player he is,” Masood said. “The good thing is he’s not out of shape, and we can hope he’s just one inning away from performing his best.”
With all eyes on Azam to score big, Pakistan will be hoping that spearheads Shaheen Shah Afridi – who missed the 2022 Test due to a knee injury – and Naseem Shah can break down the strong order. England batters.
“We told our fast bowlers that it was very important for them to take 20 wickets,” Masood said.
– Unshakeable without Stokes –
Stokes will miss the first Test as he struggles to recover from a hamstring injury sustained while playing for Northern Superchargers in The Hundred on August 11.
Doubts remain over whether he will return for the second match which begins on October 15, but England’s record has remained strong in his absence.
Top-order batter Ollie Pope led them to a 3-0 whitewash against the West Indies and a 2-1 victory over Sri Lanka.
Two years ago, it was England’s batting that set the tone for a 3-0 victory on the very first day of the series, hitting 506-4 to set a new record for a first-day Test total .
Top batter Joe Root will also be eyeing the record books, needing just 71 runs to beat Alastair Cook’s tally of 12,472, the most by any English batter.
Even without Stokes, England will have five bowlers led by the fast-rising Gus Atkinson, who has taken an impressive 34 wickets since his debut earlier this year. But the quintet will all be bowling for the first time in Pakistani conditions.
The experienced Jack Leach leads the rotating attack, accompanied by Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed.
Harry Brook led the way with three hundreds in the 2022 series while Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Pope also feasted on slow, flat tracks.
“I know Shan Masood has been asking for quicker, livelier wickets for his fast bowlers. Obviously the last time we were there they were slow, dry and spinning a bit,” Stokes said before his arrival.
“So we have to go in with an open mind as to what we’re going to get.”
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