Pakistan Tour of England 2020

[ghazi52]

Pakistan should go with three openers in England Tests: Ramiz Raja

The 57-year-old believed that left-hander Imamul Haq could be slotted in as an additional opener


14 July, 2020

Pakistan’s former cricketer-turned-commentator Ramiz Raja, while answering fan questions in a YouTube live session on Tuesday, claimed that the Men in Green should go with three openers during the upcoming Test series against England.

The 57-year-old believed that left-hander Imamul Haq could be slotted in as an additional opener because the real battle in England would be against the new ball.

“Our batting line-up will remain the same till number five. You have your captain, two openers in the form of Abid Ali and Shan Masood. I was also thinking that Pakistan could go with three openers. Imamul Haq could slot in at number three because, in England, the game comes down to how well you can bat against the new ball. If you can survive the new ball than the middle overs become significantly easier,” said Raja.

“You cannot even use saliva to swing the old ball so it becomes even more important. If your fight is against the new ball than you can opt for three openers in order to reduce the damage so that it decreases the pressure on the middle-order,” he added.

The former opener also stressed on the importance of having a quality all-rounder in the lineup.

“Ideally Pakistan should have a quality all-rounder at number six such as Ben Stokes. I don’t know if they are preparing someone for that role or not but apart from that the team will be pretty much the same with one spinner and three fast-bowlers,” he said.

Raja also believed that middle-order batsman Fawad Alam deserved a chance during the upcoming series as age was not on his side.

“I think they should play Fawad Alam because he has been waiting in the wings with the team. If they hold on for longer, age might start becoming a factor because your reflexes start to slow down. He should definitely get one chance in this Test series,” he concluded.

 

[ghazi52]

Rusty England’s loss in Southampton not to make Pakistan favourites: Shan

Khalid H. Khan
15 Jul, 2020

Shan said the tour has started very well for the Pakistan side. — AFP/File
KARACHI: Despite England’s defeat in the opening Test of the three-match West Indies series, Shan Masood has refused to tip Pakistan as favourites when the tourists come up against Joe Root’s side next month in their three-Test rubber.

Speaking to reporters here during an online Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) media conference from the national team’s base in Derby on Tuesday, the eloquent opening batsman admitted it’s very early days since the resumption of topflight international cricket, and hence, West Indies sealing a four-wicket win in the first Test at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl does not undermine England’s aspirations of bouncing back.

“I think [the result of] one match certainly doesn’t mean that England can’t get back into contention [against the West Indies]. We shouldn’t forget the fact that there was no competitive cricket over the past three months due to the novel coronavirus [Covid-19] situation anywhere in the world,” Shan underlined. “Obviously, they [England] struggled because they had not played since the series in South Africa at the start of the year and with county cricket, they couldn’t get the match practice, which does help a lot in getting rid of rustiness among the players.”

The 30-year-old Kuwait-born batsman, who had a good run in the previous eight Tests — averaging an impressive 44.57 while scoring two centuries since returning to the side during the tour of South Africa in 2018, said Pakistan are in an advantageous position in the sense they have earlier than usual because of the lockdown.

“We do have the advantage of monitoring England’s progress in the West Indies series and assess the strong and weak links of their squad. No matter how often you tour a country, the biggest challenge is to get acclimatise to the alien conditions, which can change dramatically in England once the overhead conditions get cloudy and atmosphere quite damp,” Shan remarked.

“This is where the true value of preparations is assessed. Regardless of the fact we aren’t going to play against the counties in the lead-up to the Tests, I still think we can prepare much better in the intra-squad matches because of the competiveness. If we had been playing against the counties, it wouldn’t have done much good because the opposing teams are basically second XIs in most cases.

“And since there will be stiff competition for places for the Tests among our own squad, you can imagine the level of preparations. But having said that we certainly cannot afford to get complacent because we’ll be up against a very good England side, particularly in the pace bowling department because there at least eight of them competing for three sports.

“Mark my word, we will not be taking the likes of James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes lightly. All of them are proven performers and we have to be prepared well enough to tackle them.”

Shan, who has scored 1,189 runs at 31.28 in 20 Tests with three centuries, said the tour has started very well for the Pakistan side and the time since arriving in England have been spent in doing much-needed training to make up for the lack of competitive cricket since the advent of Covid-19.

“We are now starting the second phase of preparations for the Tests here in Derby where facilities are first-rate just like we had in Worcester. Our training had gone very well in the first phase after going through the quarantine period as required by the ECB in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic,” Shan said.

“We are greatly indebted to the ECB and the administration of Worcestershire county for looking after the Pakistan squad in the best possible way in this bio-secure environment. Apart from the training sessions we really enjoyed the time out during which we also played scenario matches and had the luxury of practising on the main pitches.

“The [training] sessions we had were par excellence and the backroom staff went out of the way to make sure each and every player get ample opportunities, whether it was the physical training or batting, bowling and the fielding drills. So I can say that we are leaving no room in terms of our hard preparations before the Test series starts, particularly after spending three months back home in complete lockdown.”

Shan — who had to undergo a harrowing phase when he only played 12 Tests in more than four years while averaging a poor 23.54 — revealed that he never got disheartened as regards his time in international cricket in those early years.

“One can never predict how your career will pan out. Sometimes whatever you do in uncontrollable because everything hinges on the luck. In my case I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say ‘the performance in those 12 Tests were far from my liking’ and the reason for that is probably my own undoing,” he stressed.

“Maybe I was not in the right frame to be playing at the highest level. The best lesson in this situation is how you bounce back through sustained efforts. On the way your graph will definitely improve. Fore me the team always comes first because our collective goal is to ensure Pakistan become a top side.

“Being an opener I know what my role is, to make sure together with my partner [currently Abid Ali] we get Pakistan off to a decent start. I’m here to give my best and help the team do well on a consistent basis after two forgetful appearances in 2016 [he mustered only 71 runs in two Tests before being dumped]. If we take a look at other teams and how they keep on playing good cricket consistently, it is pure because of unity in the ranks. And being a team sport, it is no secret really to point out that winning is always a good habit and that’s our main goal — to be very good at all times….,” Shan signed off.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2020

 

[TheGreatMaratha]

Rusty England’s loss in Southampton not to make Pakistan favourites: Shan

Khalid H. Khan
15 Jul, 2020

Shan said the tour has started very well for the Pakistan side. — AFP/File
KARACHI: Despite England’s defeat in the opening Test of the three-match West Indies series, Shan Masood has refused to tip Pakistan as favourites when the tourists come up against Joe Root’s side next month in their three-Test rubber.

Speaking to reporters here during an online Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) media conference from the national team’s base in Derby on Tuesday, the eloquent opening batsman admitted it’s very early days since the resumption of topflight international cricket, and hence, West Indies sealing a four-wicket win in the first Test at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl does not undermine England’s aspirations of bouncing back.

“I think [the result of] one match certainly doesn’t mean that England can’t get back into contention [against the West Indies]. We shouldn’t forget the fact that there was no competitive cricket over the past three months due to the novel coronavirus [Covid-19] situation anywhere in the world,” Shan underlined. “Obviously, they [England] struggled because they had not played since the series in South Africa at the start of the year and with county cricket, they couldn’t get the match practice, which does help a lot in getting rid of rustiness among the players.”

The 30-year-old Kuwait-born batsman, who had a good run in the previous eight Tests — averaging an impressive 44.57 while scoring two centuries since returning to the side during the tour of South Africa in 2018, said Pakistan are in an advantageous position in the sense they have earlier than usual because of the lockdown.

“We do have the advantage of monitoring England’s progress in the West Indies series and assess the strong and weak links of their squad. No matter how often you tour a country, the biggest challenge is to get acclimatise to the alien conditions, which can change dramatically in England once the overhead conditions get cloudy and atmosphere quite damp,” Shan remarked.

“This is where the true value of preparations is assessed. Regardless of the fact we aren’t going to play against the counties in the lead-up to the Tests, I still think we can prepare much better in the intra-squad matches because of the competiveness. If we had been playing against the counties, it wouldn’t have done much good because the opposing teams are basically second XIs in most cases.

“And since there will be stiff competition for places for the Tests among our own squad, you can imagine the level of preparations. But having said that we certainly cannot afford to get complacent because we’ll be up against a very good England side, particularly in the pace bowling department because there at least eight of them competing for three sports.

“Mark my word, we will not be taking the likes of James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes lightly. All of them are proven performers and we have to be prepared well enough to tackle them.”

Shan, who has scored 1,189 runs at 31.28 in 20 Tests with three centuries, said the tour has started very well for the Pakistan side and the time since arriving in England have been spent in doing much-needed training to make up for the lack of competitive cricket since the advent of Covid-19.

“We are now starting the second phase of preparations for the Tests here in Derby where facilities are first-rate just like we had in Worcester. Our training had gone very well in the first phase after going through the quarantine period as required by the ECB in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic,” Shan said.

“We are greatly indebted to the ECB and the administration of Worcestershire county for looking after the Pakistan squad in the best possible way in this bio-secure environment. Apart from the training sessions we really enjoyed the time out during which we also played scenario matches and had the luxury of practising on the main pitches.

“The [training] sessions we had were par excellence and the backroom staff went out of the way to make sure each and every player get ample opportunities, whether it was the physical training or batting, bowling and the fielding drills. So I can say that we are leaving no room in terms of our hard preparations before the Test series starts, particularly after spending three months back home in complete lockdown.”

Shan — who had to undergo a harrowing phase when he only played 12 Tests in more than four years while averaging a poor 23.54 — revealed that he never got disheartened as regards his time in international cricket in those early years.

“One can never predict how your career will pan out. Sometimes whatever you do in uncontrollable because everything hinges on the luck. In my case I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say ‘the performance in those 12 Tests were far from my liking’ and the reason for that is probably my own undoing,” he stressed.

“Maybe I was not in the right frame to be playing at the highest level. The best lesson in this situation is how you bounce back through sustained efforts. On the way your graph will definitely improve. Fore me the team always comes first because our collective goal is to ensure Pakistan become a top side.

“Being an opener I know what my role is, to make sure together with my partner [currently Abid Ali] we get Pakistan off to a decent start. I’m here to give my best and help the team do well on a consistent basis after two forgetful appearances in 2016 [he mustered only 71 runs in two Tests before being dumped]. If we take a look at other teams and how they keep on playing good cricket consistently, it is pure because of unity in the ranks. And being a team sport, it is no secret really to point out that winning is always a good habit and that’s our main goal — to be very good at all times….,” Shan signed off.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2020

WI won the recent test but it's important to note that this England side was without Root, Broad, Bairstow, Woakes, etc. Regardless, that was still a fantastic test match for WI. Holder is continuing to impress and this was a win without any big performance from either Roach or Hope. Really looking forward to tomorrow's game. I see Broad coming in for Wood since Archer was decent in the 2nd innings.

 

[ghazi52]

The two-day inter-squad practice match of the Pakistan cricket team in Worcester concluded on Monday, with a decent outing for the Men in Green in their first rehearsal for the bio-security matches.

 

[ghazi52]

Babar Azam, Azhar Ali to lead in four-day Pakistan intra-squad match


Previously, the squad played two two-day matches during their 14-day quarantine period in Worcester

17 July, 2020

PHOTO: AFP


Pakistan men’s squad will take part in a four-day intra-squad match from today at the Derbyshire County Ground.

Pakistan men’s Test captain Azhar Ali will lead PCB Green, while Babar Azam, the Test vice-captain and captain of the white ball teams, will skipper PCB White.

This is the first of the two four-day matches that the squad will play ahead of their three World Test Championship fixtures against England. Previously, the squad played two two-day matches during their 14-day quarantine period in Worcester.

ALSO READ: Unfair to compare PSL with BBL: Usman Qadir

PCB Green:

Azhar Ali (c), Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Asad Shafiq, Iftikhar Ahmed, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Yasir Shah, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Abbas and Wahab Riaz.

12th man: Imran Khan

PCB White:

Babar Azam (c), Shan Masood, Imam-ul-Haq, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Musa, Usman Khan Shinwari and Haider Ali


12th man: Kashif Bhatti.

The match will begin at 11am local time.

 

[Pak-Canuck]

For the first test, given the current squad, I would go with this 11:

Abid Ali
Shan Masood
Azhar Ali
Babar Azam
Asad Shafiq
Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
Haider Ali / Fawad Alam?
Yasir Shah / Shadab Khan / Kashif Bhatti?
Naseem Shah
Shaheen Afridi
Mohammad Abbas

Pace

Obviously the best thing going for us is the pace department, especially in English conditions and judging by the practice match, Afridi, Abbas and Shah are going to rock it inshAllah. I know Sohail Khan picked up 5 in the practice game and Wahab is experienced, but both are pushing 40 now honestly and I don't think it's practical to include them as they might even break down during the game. Shinwari is inconsistent, he has produced great spells but has been very expensive in some as well. And Faheem Ashraf is utterly useless, dont know why he keeps getting selected in the squad.

Spin

Yasir Shah is obviously most experienced and has great history in England before, but for almost a year he has really been ineffective. I honestly don't know effective-wise if there is much of a difference between bhatti, shadab and Yasir shah, other than Shadab and to a lesser extent Yasir can provide some batting contributions.

Batting

Obviously always our weakness, although I think Abid, Babar, Azhar, Rizwan and Shafiq are in decent nick. I'm not a great fan of Masood but if he carries on his form from the last series hopefully it will be good. It seems like Alam may FINALLY get his chance, the only tragedy is, is it even worth it now considering he's pushing 40? Obviously his best years are behind him, and I do wish a bit he gets his dream which he has truly earned fulfilled. But logically speaking and looking towards the future Haider Ali would be the more logical choice. I would truly hate to be in charge of that decision now.

 

[ghazi52]

PHOTO COURTESY: PCB


Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan’s preparations for the upcoming England Test series are on track, after he scored a century in the Pakistan intra-squad practice match in Derby.

Rizwan remained unbeaten on 100 runs off 159 balls, while playing for Babar Azam-led PCB White.

 

[ghazi52]

How Waqar Younis’ tips helped Sohail Khan during intra-squad practice match

Prior to the match, Sohail had a conversation with bowling coach on the art of late swing

22 July, 2020

PHOTO COURTESY: PCB


Pakistan men’s national cricket team completed their first intra-squad four-dayer on Monday and one of the many silver linings for the team was seasoned fast-bowler Sohail Khan’s five-wicket haul.

On the third day of the practice match between Azhar Ali’s Team Green and Babar Azam’s Team White, the 36-year-old returned figures of five for 50 in 20.1 overs which saw the former fold for 181 in the first innings before they staged a comeback on the final day to win the match by six wickets.

Prior to the practice match, Sohail had a conversation with bowling coach Waqar Younis on the art of late swing. Sohail shared how the presence of the bowling legend in the support staff helped him gear up for the four-day match.

“The conditions in England are swing conducive so every fast bowler gets the ball to move,” Sohail told pcb.com.pk. “I asked Waqar bhai to teach me how to swing the ball late. It took him only two minutes to explain it to me. It is because of his tips that I took five wickets in the first innings.”

“I am eager to learn from Waqar bhai. I follow him wherever he goes and speak to him about the art of bowling as he has abundance of knowledge to share. A few days back I was struggling with something while bowling, I thought of reaching out to him and even before I spoke to him about it, he said he knew what I wanted to talk to him about and he explained it to me in a minute,” he added.

On Pakistan’s historic tour of England in 2016, Sohail played a crucial role in helping Pakistan secure a 2-2 Test series draw by returning two five-wicket hauls in as many matches. In total, he picked up 13 wickets at 25 apiece and finished as the third best wicket-taker.

In such a backdrop, the English side will be wary of his Sohail’s presence. The fast bowler last played a Test in December 2016 and expressed his delight on his inclusion in the squad for this tour.

“Definitely, it is an honour for me to return to the side. I had taken two five-fers here against England in 2016 and now in the practice match I have started off with five wickets so I am feeling very good. We had been at our homes for the past four months due to coronavirus so starting off on a high feels nice.”

Prior to Sohail’s five wickets, 17-year-old Naseem Shah made a big impact when he took five wickets for Team Green. The strength of Pakistan’s pace attack was further established as Mohammad Abbas and Shaheen Shah Afridi picked up three wickets each providing valuable support to Naseem and Sohail respectively.

Naseem and Shaheen finished the match with six and four wickets respectively.

Shedding light on the youngsters’ performances, Sohail said: “It gives me immense pleasure to see Naseem Shah. He bowls consistently at 150kph. Just like him, Shaheen Shah Afridi is another good bowler. I like both of them.”

“It gave me great happiness to see Naseem pick five wickets in the first innings. He is in rhythm and is looking great. What is astonishing is that he is playing in these conditions for the first time but still he is doing so well. Shaheen has also been phenomenal,” he concluded.

 

[ghazi52]

Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan claims that there is no pressure on him due to presence of former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed in the 29-member Men in Green’s squad for the England series.

Pakistan is scheduled to take on England in three Tests and three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), which will be played from August 5 to September 1.

While speaking to reporters in a video chat on Thursday, Rizwan said that he is learning from the former captain’s experience and there is positive rivalry between them.

"I am a fan of Sarfaraz and have a lot of love in my heart for him. There is no added pressure on me due to his presence. He's my senior and I am learning a lot from him," said Rizwan.

"Healthy competition between players eventually benefits the team. Doesn’t matter whoever plays, the goal is to perform and win games for Pakistan. I am confident in my abilities and will perform whenever given an opportunity. Whoever the team management deems fit, will be in the playing XI," he added.


Rizwan’s preparations for the upcoming Test series are on track, after he scored a century in the Pakistan intra-squad practice match in Derby. The wicketkeeper-batsman remained unbeaten on 100 runs off 159 balls, while playing for Babar Azam-led PCB White.

"My confidence has improved after performing in the intra-squad practice matches, which will help me in the upcoming Test series. It is always pleasing to score a century. I am ready to bat at any position in the batting order the team requires. All the batsmen are in good form and are confident ahead of the series," he said.

The 28-year-old was one of the 10 Pakistan cricketers who initially tested positive Covid-19 ahead of the England tour.

"I wasn’t concerned when I tested positive for Covid-19 as I didn’t have any symptoms," he said.

 

[litman]

Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan claims that there is no pressure on him due to presence of former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed in the 29-member Men in Green’s squad for the England series.

Pakistan is scheduled to take on England in three Tests and three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), which will be played from August 5 to September 1.

While speaking to reporters in a video chat on Thursday, Rizwan said that he is learning from the former captain’s experience and there is positive rivalry between them.

"I am a fan of Sarfaraz and have a lot of love in my heart for him. There is no added pressure on me due to his presence. He's my senior and I am learning a lot from him," said Rizwan.

"Healthy competition between players eventually benefits the team. Doesn’t matter whoever plays, the goal is to perform and win games for Pakistan. I am confident in my abilities and will perform whenever given an opportunity. Whoever the team management deems fit, will be in the playing XI," he added.


Rizwan’s preparations for the upcoming Test series are on track, after he scored a century in the Pakistan intra-squad practice match in Derby. The wicketkeeper-batsman remained unbeaten on 100 runs off 159 balls, while playing for Babar Azam-led PCB White.

"My confidence has improved after performing in the intra-squad practice matches, which will help me in the upcoming Test series. It is always pleasing to score a century. I am ready to bat at any position in the batting order the team requires. All the batsmen are in good form and are confident ahead of the series," he said.

The 28-year-old was one of the 10 Pakistan cricketers who initially tested positive Covid-19 ahead of the England tour.

"I wasn’t concerned when I tested positive for Covid-19 as I didn’t have any symptoms," he said.

there is no pressure on rizwan . sarfaraz couldnt perform even in the practice match while he managed to score a century. he is also not a talented wicket keeper but he is the only choice for this post just like IK.

there are reports that amir may be considered for test matches as well. i doubt he will be there in the first test match but he is the best bowler in english conditions.

 

[ghazi52]

Pakistan shortlist 20-player squad for England Tests

First Test between the two sides will begin on August 5

27 July, 2020

Following the conclusion of two four-day intra-squad matches, Pakistan shortlisted the squad for the three-match Test series against England.

Old Trafford will host the first Test of the series starting on Wednesday August 5. The final two Tests will be played at the Rose Bowl from Thursday, August 13 and Friday, August 21.

The three T20Is will take place at Old Trafford on Friday, August 28, Sunday, August 30 and the final match of the tour on Tuesday, September 1.

Test squad:

Azhar Ali (captain), Babar Azam (vice-captain), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Imamul Haq, Imran Khan Snr, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah

Meanwhile, the remaining nine players — Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain and Musa Khan — will continue to train with the squad for the T20I series, which will be played at the backend of the Test series.

 

[ghazi52]

 

[litman]

there is no chance for pak this year. it will be a 3-0 whitewash in tests . they may win one T 20. the england pace attackis the best in the world today. 2 bowlers with then 500 test wickets and the inform bowlers like archer, stokes and woakes they wont let pakistan go beyond 200 in all 6 innings. pak bowling is also weak. apart from shaheen afridi there is no bowler who can really theaten english batsmen. yasir shah may still trouble the english batsmen.abbas hasnt performed well in recent past and this series could be the end of his career . he has the swing but no pace.

 

[TheGreatMaratha]

there is no chance for pak this year. it will be a 3-0 whitewash in tests . they may win one T 20. the england pace attackis the best in the world today. 2 bowlers with then 500 test wickets and the inform bowlers like archer, stokes and woakes they wont let pakistan go beyond 200 in all 6 innings. pak bowling is also weak. apart from shaheen afridi there is no bowler who can really theaten english batsmen. yasir shah may still trouble the english batsmen.abbas hasnt performed well in recent past and this series could be the end of his career . he has the swing but no pace.

Will certainly be an interesting series to follow though. I don't know too much about the current set of Pakistani players so will try to tune into those awesome highlights on the ECB's YT channel.

Yeah, Broad, Anderson, Archer(not looked good in the current series), Woakes, Stokes are dangerous but even WI managed to give them the slip in the 1st test (Also remember WI almost managed to draw the 2nd game). Also, England has a history of performing poorly in the 1st test of a series so if Pakistan manages to win the 1st one and somehow hold on to the next 2, that'll be more than enough to come back from the tour with good spirits.

 

[Dalit]

Rusty England’s loss in Southampton not to make Pakistan favourites: Shan

Khalid H. Khan
15 Jul, 2020

Shan said the tour has started very well for the Pakistan side. — AFP/File
KARACHI: Despite England’s defeat in the opening Test of the three-match West Indies series, Shan Masood has refused to tip Pakistan as favourites when the tourists come up against Joe Root’s side next month in their three-Test rubber.

Speaking to reporters here during an online Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) media conference from the national team’s base in Derby on Tuesday, the eloquent opening batsman admitted it’s very early days since the resumption of topflight international cricket, and hence, West Indies sealing a four-wicket win in the first Test at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl does not undermine England’s aspirations of bouncing back.

“I think [the result of] one match certainly doesn’t mean that England can’t get back into contention [against the West Indies]. We shouldn’t forget the fact that there was no competitive cricket over the past three months due to the novel coronavirus [Covid-19] situation anywhere in the world,” Shan underlined. “Obviously, they [England] struggled because they had not played since the series in South Africa at the start of the year and with county cricket, they couldn’t get the match practice, which does help a lot in getting rid of rustiness among the players.”

The 30-year-old Kuwait-born batsman, who had a good run in the previous eight Tests — averaging an impressive 44.57 while scoring two centuries since returning to the side during the tour of South Africa in 2018, said Pakistan are in an advantageous position in the sense they have earlier than usual because of the lockdown.

“We do have the advantage of monitoring England’s progress in the West Indies series and assess the strong and weak links of their squad. No matter how often you tour a country, the biggest challenge is to get acclimatise to the alien conditions, which can change dramatically in England once the overhead conditions get cloudy and atmosphere quite damp,” Shan remarked.

“This is where the true value of preparations is assessed. Regardless of the fact we aren’t going to play against the counties in the lead-up to the Tests, I still think we can prepare much better in the intra-squad matches because of the competiveness. If we had been playing against the counties, it wouldn’t have done much good because the opposing teams are basically second XIs in most cases.

“And since there will be stiff competition for places for the Tests among our own squad, you can imagine the level of preparations. But having said that we certainly cannot afford to get complacent because we’ll be up against a very good England side, particularly in the pace bowling department because there at least eight of them competing for three sports.

“Mark my word, we will not be taking the likes of James Anderson, Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes lightly. All of them are proven performers and we have to be prepared well enough to tackle them.”

Shan, who has scored 1,189 runs at 31.28 in 20 Tests with three centuries, said the tour has started very well for the Pakistan side and the time since arriving in England have been spent in doing much-needed training to make up for the lack of competitive cricket since the advent of Covid-19.

“We are now starting the second phase of preparations for the Tests here in Derby where facilities are first-rate just like we had in Worcester. Our training had gone very well in the first phase after going through the quarantine period as required by the ECB in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic,” Shan said.

“We are greatly indebted to the ECB and the administration of Worcestershire county for looking after the Pakistan squad in the best possible way in this bio-secure environment. Apart from the training sessions we really enjoyed the time out during which we also played scenario matches and had the luxury of practising on the main pitches.

“The [training] sessions we had were par excellence and the backroom staff went out of the way to make sure each and every player get ample opportunities, whether it was the physical training or batting, bowling and the fielding drills. So I can say that we are leaving no room in terms of our hard preparations before the Test series starts, particularly after spending three months back home in complete lockdown.”

Shan — who had to undergo a harrowing phase when he only played 12 Tests in more than four years while averaging a poor 23.54 — revealed that he never got disheartened as regards his time in international cricket in those early years.

“One can never predict how your career will pan out. Sometimes whatever you do in uncontrollable because everything hinges on the luck. In my case I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say ‘the performance in those 12 Tests were far from my liking’ and the reason for that is probably my own undoing,” he stressed.

“Maybe I was not in the right frame to be playing at the highest level. The best lesson in this situation is how you bounce back through sustained efforts. On the way your graph will definitely improve. Fore me the team always comes first because our collective goal is to ensure Pakistan become a top side.

“Being an opener I know what my role is, to make sure together with my partner [currently Abid Ali] we get Pakistan off to a decent start. I’m here to give my best and help the team do well on a consistent basis after two forgetful appearances in 2016 [he mustered only 71 runs in two Tests before being dumped]. If we take a look at other teams and how they keep on playing good cricket consistently, it is pure because of unity in the ranks. And being a team sport, it is no secret really to point out that winning is always a good habit and that’s our main goal — to be very good at all times….,” Shan signed off.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2020

LOL why even go on a tour when you are already not the favorites? It is a waste of time.

This is not a bad squad in my opinion.

Azhar Ali (captain), Babar Azam (vice-captain), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Imamul Haq, Imran Khan Snr, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah