Pakistan had plenty of chances to record a much higher second-innings score than they did, but “same mistakes” let them down
Danyal Rasool29-Dec-2024Pakistan may have a reputation for unpredictability, but followers of the Test side in South Africa know exactly what’s going to happen. It is the tale of the person who bangs their head against a brick wall every day, only because they fantasise about how good it’ll feel the day they stop.There were some tantalising moments when Pakistan wondered if day three of the first Test in Centurion would be that day. But then again, if you’ve been banging your head that long, perhaps it feels that way every day. And yet few innings clip onto them the sense of destiny that Babar Azam’s did overnight. A contribution of note, especially if it helped Pakistan win their first Test in South Africa since 2007, would be a contender as his magnum opus. It may herald his comeback, help his career pick up a second wind. It was a lot to saddle on an innings that had largely been compiled by scratching and scraping his way to an unbeaten 16 in the late summer twilight of the second day.The extended wait thanks to the morning rain added yet more gravitas to the innings, and once play began, you could see whatever you wished to see. Babar’s punch behind square leg off Kagiso Rabada was followed by a slap past point, so did that mean he was back to his best? You’d have to ignore the flatness of the pitch or the fact that on the few occasions Rabada found his line outside off stump, Babar’s struggle with the bounce was hard to miss.Related
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The festive crowd in South Africa can be quite partisan, but even those who braved the uncooperative weather in the morning – and there were a few thousand of them – understood the precipice it briefly felt like Babar’s career hinged on. Every boundary met murmurs of approval from the wider crowd, amplified by a vociferous pocket in the Grandstand who held up placards of support, and chanted his name. Like them, he appeared to be raging against the dying of a career that should have been in its prime at this stage.When he whipped sudden local favourite Corbin Bosch to midwicket for four and got himself off strike with a single, it was his highest score in nearly two years. A nudge into the deep got him past a milestone that once had been a glib stepping stone, a half-century that brought the dressing room to its feet.But hope can bring its own kind of torture, especially when it comes with the gnawing sense of approaching doom. This was not an innings of a turning tide as much as it was opportunistic accumulation. The infuriating, inveterate dab to the slips had not been cut out of his game, the tendency to get caught squared up against seam movement always rendered him vulnerable. This was not a new Babar, just the same man with the same ability, and ultimately, the same fallibility.Babar Azam scored his first fifty in nearly two years in Test cricket•Associated PressAnd it didn’t take much. South Africa had positioned a fielder at deep third all afternoon, so square it barely counted as a catching position. Marco Jansen tossed one out wide to Babar; he would later say one of the plans involved inducing Pakistani batters into playing shots they attempted because of impatience rather than intent. But, really, it was short, wide, boundary fodder.In the past, Babar’s eyes would narrow as he ruthlessly dispatched it along the ground, piercing whatever gap needed to be pierced to find the boundary. Now, his widened eyes appeared childlike, as if the sweets cupboard had been left unlocked, and he snatched greedily without seemingly appreciating the trap it was.He was late; Jansen is quick. His bat face tilted upwards; Jansen is tall. And Bosch at the boundary had a gift, because Pakistan in this Test have exhausted a year’s supply of generosity on the debutant. Babar’s expression suggested disbelief, though the mind can superimpose emotions onto human faces; he might just as easily have been blank.
“When we play outside Pakistan, we’re not able to finish well, whether it’s innings or matches. That is a slight concern. We made some of the same mistakes today”Saud Shakeel
Saud Shakeel, who Jansen would ensnare with an equally inoffensive delivery, spoke openly of Pakistan’s frustrations. “We’re making some of these mistakes; it also happened when we went to Australia. When we play outside Pakistan, we’re not able to finish well, whether it’s innings or matches. That is a slight concern. We made some of the same mistakes today. This 148-run target could easily have been a 200-plus target.”Listening to what might have been, though, is perhaps more painful for Pakistan supporters than the head-banging. Pakistan could have set a higher target in 2007 or 2013 in Cape Town, or 2018 in Centurion. They could have made South Africa work for their wickets a little more on the third day, or been more effective at polishing off South Africa’s last two wickets on the second. They could yet produce a remarkable bowling effort and still salvage it all, with 121 runs still to play with.Or perhaps, because they never do, maybe it never was possible. As Babar’s expression suggested, if you really wanted to read into it, some hopes are always accompanied by doom. Perhaps all there is to Pakistan in South Africa is the head, and that brick wall.
