A Very Emotional Review of the First Australia-Pakistan Test

Living in the U.S and watching cricket is a horrible combination. Apart from the fact that no one here understands the game or watches it, the timings for most Test matches are so absurd that you need to reevaluate your decision to sit through 5 days and watch them. But here I found myself, working on my final paper, streaming a bootlegged link to watch the first test between Australia and Pakistan, from 10 PM to around 5 AM every night. Do I regret the decision? Not one bit.

Right from the start, there was misplaced excitement and hope regarding Pakistan’s chances not just in this Test but in the whole series. That is the life of a Pakistani cricket supporter though; hoping against hope that our team is going to rise from the ashes of historical defeats and give us something to cheer about. And to be honest, they have done a lot of that recently, what with the win at Lords, and the drawn series overall, the climb up to number 1 in Test rankings coupled with the image of a dashing Misbah holding the Mace in his aviators. Now that is the stuff that dreams are made of, and that is exactly why I was hoping that this was finally the time when we end up winning in Australia. Call it mental fragility or fear of Australian conditions and pitches, but no team, from Waqar and Wasim’s (Bhai) pace attack or Javed Miandad and Imran Khan’s superb leadership could win in this hallowed turf down under. Why would this time be any different? Did the pace attack compare to that of yester years’ nostalgia? Did we have one of the finest captains and all rounders in the world in the team? Did we even have more than one established world class batsman in the line-up? The answers to those questions are, no, maybe but LOL, and nope. But fuck that. At least we’re exciting to watch.

From the first morning, though, it was quite clear who the big dogs were. And no, it wasn’t Pakistan. Building up a reasonable opening partnership, it was a big relief when Amir finally broke through and then Yasir dismissed Khawaja cheaply. But then, it was Pakistan cricket at its absolute worst. When you’re bowling to the world’s number 1 ranked Test batsman, you ought to take all your chances against him. What Pakistan did was make me want to smash my laptop screen. Sarfaraz did not manage to hold on to a regulation catch off AZHAR FREAKIN’ ALI’S bowling to dismiss Smith early in his innings. But it was okay, we were going to get him soon, no worries lads. Pakistan toiled, ran in and bowled their hearts out that evening, with little to show for it. Except Rahat Ali. What in the world was Rahat Ali even doing on the first day? My slumping mood from this innings further went down when Amir went down in the field clutching his knee. I remarked on Facebook that, this injury was it for Pakistan’s hopes in the series. It looked like it was serious, and with the second new ball due in a bit, I was gutted that Amir was not going to take it. But he returned. He. Came. Back. And he bowled one of the blistering spells that the world loves him for. With Smith on 97, the ball took his edge and went safely into the hands of Sarfaraz for once. BREAKTHROUGH RIGHT? Nope. A team that has grown up on the Wasim Bhai school of appealing that appeals for any and everything that could/might/should be out, did not even go ‘ooh’ or ‘aah’ and Smith survived and went on. He did not let Pakistan off cheaply for his chances and was dropped again the next day. Thankfully though, he did not add too much after that and gave Pakistan a break. Not so easy though, after running through the middle and lower order, the familiar tale of Pakistan not being able to oust the tailenders continued and Australia managed to push past to put 429 on the board- a big score for any team, let alone one that had surrendered so meekly just weeks ago to the Kiwis.

Pakistan came into bat on the second day, under lights. What a disaster. While Sami Aslam blocked, blocked and blocked whatever came his way, he saw all his partners falling at the other end, mostly prodding for the ball outside off like their lives depended on it. Not Misbah, not Younis our most prolific batsman, not Babar our new prodigy, could muster any courage against the Australian attack. That is until Sarfaraz came about. Jarrod Kimber recently described Sarfaraz’s style as one with disregard to the conditions, situation and life in general. And that is exactly what Sarfaraz did. He did not care that he was facing one of the most venomous attacks in cricket right now. He did not care that a 150+ KMH delivery was coming his way. He would advance down the pitch, bend down, slog sweep them wherever the hell he wanted. Watching him do that, one could wonder whether this was the same attack the rest of the batting order had surrendered to just a while ago. With all his heroics though, Sarfaraz could not conjure a miracle and Pakistan ended their first innings 142 all out. In reply to 429…well short of even the score needed to avoid follow on. Great. This was going to be the very same as every time.

The Australians did not enforce the follow on (for which I thanked them for not humiliating Pakistan further) and came out to score runs in a flurry. They managed to put on 202 runs in just under 40 overs, leaving Pakistan with a world record chase of 490 to win; and we all know how good Pakistan is at chasing totals.

Before the second Pakistani innings began, however, I put up another Facebook status saying that I could feel Pakistan can win this. I was, obviously and for good reason, ridiculed by everyone for being overly optimistic. But I had only two choices- be rational and sad or be optimistic and happy so I could write my paper alongside. Pakistan started again under lights, with the ball misbehaving as it usually does under lights. Azhar and Aslam put on a stoic defence right from the start. Even though they looked to block most of what came their way, they also started showing some positive intent that was not there in the first innings. Taking risks, and scoring a few boundaries and they looked like completely changed batsmen. But then Aslam edged one to slip and was gone. That hope for a good opening stand did not last long and now I waited for the traditional batting collapse. I was rewarded a few overs later when Azam knicked one to slip off Lyon, after having toiled hard to be where he was. 54 runs on the board, 2 wickets down. In walks Younis Khan, who bagged a first ball duck in the first innings. He had never bagged two ducks in a test match ever, but who was to say that he couldn’t now? But he ended the days play on 0, not out though. 70 runs on the board, 2 wickets down. Just 420 more runs to get.

The third day started with Younis getting off the mark, to avoid an unwanted record and building up a partnership with Azhar. Azhar got to his 50, and departed soon after though, bringing Misbah into the action. With Misbah and Younis playing, there is always hope that Pakistan can win. That they can just push us through to the finish line. But nope, Misbah in similar fashion to the first innings, got out, prodding at a ball outside off and Younis left not much later, playing a reverse sweep that he has played since forever. In came Asad Shafiq and Sarfaraz Ahmad. Sarfaraz played in his usual fashion- not caring about the pace of the bowler, the situation of the match, or his own general well-being, looking busy at the crease. He built an exciting partnership with Asad Shafiq, before he was bowled by a peach from Starc- an inswinging Yorker Starc has made his name off. In came the tail, more than 250 runs still required, and my hopeful Facebook status started getting some well-deserved flak. I was being stupid if I thought we were going to win. Who places so much trust in the Pakistani batting?

But then something remarkable happened. As the night outside my window turned slowly to dusk, Amir and Shafiq started taking the game to Australia. Visibly tired and frustrated, the Australian bowlers let their emotions show with every edge that went past slip, with every drive that found the boundary. It was too little, too late, but it was exciting to watch the Australians getting frustrated. Owing to the earlier breaks in play due to rain, the play was stretched an hour longer than its intended end. And then half an hour more was added so Australia could finish things up. And more. But with every bit of over time that was added, Pakistan continued to bruise Australia even more. When Amir departed, Wahab joined Shafiq in aggressing against the Aussie bowlers, hitting them to most parts of the ground, looking like a real batsman. And while all this excitement went about, Asad Shafiq in his unassuming but controlled manner, reached his century mark and after being dropped twice, he thought he might as well let all apprehension go. It was an innings of class from a man Pakistan has become accustomed to relying upon to dig them out of trouble, and his ninth century from number 6, broke the record held by someone who is a household name, Sir Garfield Sobers. Wahab edged behind in the final over of the day, and Australia needed just 2 more wickets to win the match the next day. Pakistan, 108 runs.

Pakistan started Day 5 by taking the attack to Australia once again. Yasir Shah looked like a batsman in his zone, and Shafiq started from where he left off last night, finding crucial gaps, rotating the strike well and constantly in Yasir’s ear. The Australians looked even more frustrated than they did last night. The Pakistani tail showed rare fightback abilities and the Aussies had little to no reply to that. Now people started believing in that Facebook status I had put up. Could we actually do this? Could this improbable win actually happen? Alas, it was not to be as Pakistan fell 40 runs short and Australia celebrated like they had won the series, not a foregone conclusion.

Pakistan did end up losing this match, but made everyone go through a cycle of emotions that we are well versed in by now. Shatter all hope, get cursed at, show no resistance, fight back, bring the game to an agonizingly close end, and then lose. It is the Pakistan way of doing things, and love it or hate it, it seems to work pretty often. For all the raised blood-pressure and mini-heart attacks over the past 5 days, thank you Team Pakistan for making shitty 2016 just a tad bit better with the best Test Match of the year.