Pakistan v England – Test Series Preview

The time has come for the biggest entertainment of the season, as Pakistan are all set to take on mighty England in a three-match Test series at United Arab Emirates.

After thumping Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the confident Green Shirts are in pursue of another cherished victory.

On the other hand, the Englishmen have everything to lose. The sweet memories of their 4-0 triumph against India are still fresh, but they are now up against a resilient Pakistani team in the tough UAE conditions.

The Cornered Tigers hold a fine track record on the Arab pitches – similar to those in Pakistan. However, they cannot take anything for granted, as the English crew is a quality side full of talented players.

The tourists will try to salvage respect which they lost due to their 5-0 ODI drubbing in India. The Men in Green, on the other side, are aiming to continue their winning momentum, and prove that they can beat any opposition.

Looking at the squad for the Test series, one cannot declare a side stronger than the other. If Pakistan have Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz and Aizaz Cheema in the pace department, the English side is equally powerful with the likes of James Anderson, Steven Finn
and Stuart Broad.

Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman are set to lead the Pakistan spin department whereas Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar will be England’s trump cards. When it comes to batting, the two teams are once again no weaker than each other.

With the greats like Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell, England’s batting line-up is perhaps the current best in the business. And it will be an uphill task for Team Green to restrict these giants to a small total.

Likewise, the home side is a fine blend of young and experienced players. The veteran willow-wielders like Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Mohammad Hafeez are Pakistan’s main strength while the youngsters like Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali will add
special spark to the side.

However, fielding might be a big difference between the two great sides. A few days ago, the skipper of Pakistan team, Misbah-ul-Haq expressed satisfaction over team’s batting and bowling performance during 2011. However, he conceded fielding as Pakistan’s
weak point that needs to be addressed.

The 37-year-old skipper added, “We need to continue to develop specialists in key fielding positions particularly in Test cricket. Fielders at silly point, short leg and in the slip cordon have to be specialists as these fielding positions are key to your
chances in the field in Test cricket. I feel that it’s very important that we develop fielders who can field in these positions, particularly developing youngsters who can do a good job fielding in these key positions."

The touring captain, Andrew Strauss is raring go, and quite hopeful of excellent results in the tough conditions.

“The England cricket team’s record in the sub-continent has been patchy. I think it’s a really good time for us to have a lot of sub-continental cricket because we are confident, we’ve done well over the last two years or so and this is a kind of new frontier
for us, to win and hopefully win consistently on the sub-continent,” he said ahead of the series.

Both sides are well capable of beating each other. However, the team which will keep its nerves calm is likely to end up on the winning side.

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on Jan 17 2012. Filed under Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry