so we have seen the first test and against our expectations pak did not lose by huge margin.Lot of discussion was going on regarding the comparison of afridi- naseem pair with that of amir and asif of 2010. but in the first test the new pair doesnt seem as impressive as were amir and asif. naseem has pace and bounce but he cant swing the ball both ways. shaheen has swing but he is not using it sensibly to trap the batsmen but he still looked better then naseem. the pair at the moment is certainly no match with amir and asif. they had class. pace and variety. abbas has swing with the new ball but has no pace. his only weapon is swing but his tactic is greatly neutralized by the english batsmen as they started standing outside the crease indorder to reduce the chances of getting LBW. as he doesnt has any pace he cant push them back in the crease by pacy bouncers. he bowled well but got only 3 wickets in 2 innings. couldnt win the match for pak. naseem is too young he needs to develop the art of swinging the ball both ways and swinging yorkers. the batting failed in the both innings. thanks to butler for giving two chances to shan masood in the first innings otherwise he would have been gone to pavillion on 45. azhar ali and asad shafiq need to improve their technique. test cricket doesnt mean that the batsmen should defend even the lose deliveries. in the first innings he defended many deliveries by broad on which any other batsman could have played straight drives to boundary. but what can you expect from the batting line which is coached by misbah who is known for his defensive and cowardly attitude through out his careers. he cant bring any improvement in the batsmen but he can spoil babar azam.
overall pak lost to a far better side. there was some criticism regarding england playing with one batsmen short. but i think it was the right decision. their bowlers won them the match in the second innings.
