TAKING A LEAF OUT OF EACH OTHERS BOOK

         TAKING A LEAF OUT OF EACH OTHERS BOOK             

Author - Hamza Afzal

On the battlefield of 202 years old Lords Cricket ground,Pakistan and England have completed 2 days of their duel as these lines are typed.The ferocious duel that was anticipated avidly by cricketing fraternity has so far lived up brilliantly to its expectations.The usual factors that make an England Pakistan series interesting, however,are thankfully absent so far.While the BBC's and the News of World's of inimical British press may scoff at your most humble writer, I won't pretend that I am desolate at commencement of an English tour in such a tranquil fashion. So much so, even Amir has been given breathing space by a supposedly Lock ness monster equivalent crowd at the home of cricket( oops Hafeez and Sarfraz took a bit of that air!).

You must have been intrigued after reading the Header.OK Pakistan may take a leaf out sala gora log and try to emulate what they do. But POM's ? England dont need to do so, thank you very much. However, after reading in between the lines of what is pouring in press and obviously following the game from my TV set which nearly got short circuited today, khaksaar feels that some of the points which are extracted by picking up brains of analysts, might be worth a read. So here we go in fine old fashion ABCD baba ABCD!!

A:   A for Alaistar ,so hands down we will see where England have out smarted Pakistan so far. Known usually for their prolific opening swing kings Anderson and Broad, England had a surprise package ready for Pakistan. Oh yes, Roger waokes the munda, Chris woakes. In his previous encounter with Pakistan, Woakes had dented the green shirts with a quick fire 37 and a modest bowling spell at 6.50 runs per over in a T20I at Dubai . However, in this test so far, Woakes has been showing his utmost character.His bowling figures of 6 for 70 at an economy 2.91 on a docile track indeed reflect the hard work put in by the Warwickshire born. At stumps day 2, England rely heavily on a 31* Woakes to reduce the deficit. to hum kia krain must have been you reaction after reading this. Well , in form of Woakes, England have an All rounder who has replaced the brilliant Braithwaite wala Ben Stokes and has done nearly or even more than what usually is expected of Ben.Not to forget there is Chris Jordan warming the bench. Similarty? All rounders who can clock 135+ and bat according to situation while utililisng their ability to bat. Pakistan don't have this luxury. All they have in current Squad is Wahab Riaz who can hit that white thing when he is batting like he bowls!  So Pakistan maybe its time you experimented with Domestic Stars like Amir Yamin and Hammad Azam to see if they can do the analogus duty? Well that's one for all the boys kay selector!    

Secondly notice the way England started their innings at Rate of 5 and maintained it for sometime.It obviously upset Pakistans plans and also ensured that by the time stumps were called , England had amassed a good total at good pace.Well this is something related to openers providing a good start and to play with a RR of 4+???nai openers ka wuzu toot jye ga bhai !

  B:   Bewafa Batting line up wali team Pakistan. What have they done here England should have done? In my view not yet too much, but for a couple. Firstly,targeting the weak links. Finn and Moeen Ali were bashed while Broad and Woakes got the deserved respect at hands of Misbah and Asad.Moeen Ali in particular was snubbed and thus affecting his reputation as bowling all rounder.Against India in 2014, Mo' bagged 19 wickets.Here he has a tough job because ab Pakistani urdu ma bat ni krty Moeen bhai :)              

Secondly, England either should give confidence to Adil Rashid by giving him a much     longer run in the tests or should send him to search for Onyx in Pokemon Go. On a surface which Yasir Shah has been marvellous, Adil rashid would have also plucked a few.Shah,admittedly is much better than Rashid with all his weight going into action and thus his Wrong one  much effective than loopy Rashid. But this surface was exactly what Rashid would have liked.      
3 more days to go and I might be woefully wrong, but i don't want my head to be cut off by Green team followers, so lets hope both sides learn alot from Lords Test.