September 7, 2016. The sight of Khalid Latif and Sharjeel Khan tormenting the English attacks on a chilly evening in Manchester was sight of sore eyes for millions back in Pakistan and thousands in the stands of Old Trafford. The temporary stands from where I was watching reverberated with slogans , chants of JJ ‘s “Dil Dil Pakistan ” , an anthem that has engulfed every cricket match for decades ,was absorbing to say the least. In unison, it felt like you were on streets of Lahore, Karachi or Peshawar at Eid time but much louder. The euphoria was unmatched.

It was the finest hour of the Greenshirts in the city after the World Cup semifinal win  of 1999, under then a new captain Sarfaraz Ahmad. 4 years later however, there is no Khalid,Sharjeel or Sarfaraz in the 11 which started on August 5.There were no spectators either,like literally, as a new era of  test cricket had started.It is now the Covid19 era of cricket.The tour itself looked a fallacy at times to be organised in the background of an uptick of pandemic both in Uk and in the” Land of the Pure.”

Azhar Ali was Sarfaraz ‘s chronological successor but in true terms he was the understudy of his ex- SNGPL team mate and now coach Misbah ul Haq.As a skipper he lacked aggression and many doubted his place in the 11 let alone skippering it.Since 2017 when he had the knee surgery, he has a meagre record on foreign tracks and that procession continued in Manchester with a duck and 18, due to the struggles with that knee bending.On both occasions he was dismissed by Chris Woakes, who had mesmerised the Greenshirts in 2016 claiming a huge tally of 26 wickets the second best  only to the legendary Abdul Qadir ‘s haul of 30 in 1987.Woakes wasn’t done yet with Greenshirts.

Pakistan batted in typical Pakistan style. From 43/2, Babar Azam and Shan Masood had averted misery on a rain hit day 1 with a 97 run stand. Shan ,who was more famous of being Jimmy Anderson ‘s bunny of six dismissals in a row prior to this test,had liaised with many  external coaches  to help with his technique.His interests of reading motivational books and watching the “Batman” and Leonardo DiCaprio movies are  unorthodox for a test player coming from Pakistan.Babar’s 69 made him his “Robin” even though he was hyped to do much more.His dismissal on the second morning led to a typical crisis of sorts.Pakistan were soon 170/5. Shadab Khan’s inclusion as a batsman at 6 seemed to be helpful hitting  a cheeky 46. Shan somehow fought with the lower order and tail in a gritty  156.Their total of 326 seemed decent on a wicket destined to deteriorate especially on the last days.

What followed was one of the superb new ball spells in recent times with Shaheen Afridi and  Mohammad Abbas sharing the spoils. England though upstaged in the evening session ,  managed  91/4 at the end of the day but not before Abbas castled Stokes’ off stump with a peach of delivery for nought.The next day the team folded to 219, meaning the visitors led by a huge 107. Yasir Shah, the leggie took 4. The drama didn’t end there. The Greenshirts let their guard loose and collapsed to 137/8 by the end of day 3. A late cameo from Yasir took them to 169 and setting a stiff target of 277.

England seemed at one point struggling with 117/5 in the chase. Both Root and Stokes were dismissed in the afternoon session, the former to a scorcher from the young fast bowler Naseem Shah, being hailed as the new sensation from an assembly line of fast bowlers back home and upgraded from Under 19 cricket.Naseem could muster no more though as Jos Butler and Chris Woakes came to the rescue.

One could say Jos Butler was given a redemption for the numerous chances he missed behind the wicket especially when Shan was batting. He batted typically in his one day mode not for the first time against the Greenshirts and not the last either.Facing a potential sack  from the test side, he struck 75 crucial runs in the chase with Chris Woakes.Woakes did more damage in this test with his batting in a match winning unbeaten  86 alongside his four wickets than the expected threat from his all rounding colleague Ben Stokes.England had won by 3 wickets.

Pakistan were denied a victory with a final session meltdown and not for the first time. The captaincy was poor with defensive field placings and bowling changes in light of the onslaught of runs  were characteristic of ” Panicstan”. The pre-test hype  was about using spin. Where was Shadab as second spinner in all this equation ? This defensive mindset has been hounding Greenshirts for a decade now.

Azhar Ali and co. were left in the north with much to ponder. It seemed to many that it was a morale damaging  loss for many to ruminate throughout the series  as they had only a few days to recuperate before the crew headed to Southampton. Only time will tell how they will recover from this debacle .

( To be continued )