Australia v Pakistan 1st Test: The five players who must step up for Pakistan to have a chance of beating Australia
It’s been 28 long years since they triumphed in Australia but Pakistan are hoping their ‘sacrificial lamb’ and a young gun rivalling the Aussie attack can help end the drought.
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It has been 28 years since Pakistan last won a Test match in Australia.
Since Wasim Akram’s men triumphed at the SCG in 1995, no Pakistani outfit has so much as drawn a Test down under with the losing streak currently sitting at 14.
If Pakistan is any hope of ending that losing streak, these are the five men who must step up.
Abdullah Shafique
1220 runs at 50.83, four centuries, high score of 201
A ball hasn’t been bowled in anger, yet you would forgive Australia’s attack if they were already sick of the sight of opening batter Abdullah Shafique. Last time the two sides met, Shafique faced a series best 996 deliveries. He scored a ton in the series opener, but the knock that stood out was his seven-hour fourth-innings vigil to deny Australia victory in the second Test.
Talk out of Pakistan is that the Shafique is the real deal and four centuries across 14 Tests suggests as much. Those hundreds have come against a full strength Australian attack, in a miraculous fourth-innings chase on a Galle Bunsen burner, against England, and most recently a career-best double ton against Sri Lanka.
The question that remains is how his game stands up outside of Asia, where all 14 of his Tests have been played. Success in Australia starts at the top of the order, and for Pakistan that means runs scored and deliveries faced by Shafique.
Shan Masood
Statline 1597 runs at 28.51, four centuries, high score of 156
Shan Masood has been playing for Pakistan for a decade now, but rarely nailed a spot in the XI – that’s reflected by a middling average of 28.51 across 30 Tests.
His reward? Taking over from Babar Azam as Test captain, and starting his reign in a country where his side has lost its past 14 consecutive Tests. Talk about a baptism of fire.
Such is the size of the task, Masood was asked last month whether he felt like a “sacrificial lamb”.
“As far as being qurbaani ka bakra (sacrificial lamb) is concerned, the captaincy, playing as a player in the side, these are all temporary things at the end of the day,” he replied. “As long as you are in that place, or seat, you should relish the opportunity, enjoy it and try and take responsibility, and give your best ability to the team.”
Once a dogged old school opener, Masood adopted a far more aggressive approach to Test cricket in 2023, scoring at better than a run-a-ball, as Pakistan took a leaf out of England’s book.
He didn’t score quite as quickly in Pakistan’s lone tour match against the Prime Minister’s XI, but he did plenty to suggest captaincy will get the best out of him, making an unbeaten 201 off 298. If Pakistan is to turn around its terrible run in Australia, Masood will have to carry on that sort of form.
Babar Azam
3772 runs at 47.74, nine centuries, high score of 196
Elegant on the eyes and prolific on the scoresheet, Babar Azam is as complete as any batter to tour these shores in the past decade and boasts the kind of cover drive we all dream about when shadow batting.
The 29-year-old tendered his resignation as Pakistan captain after the team’s Pakistan’s group stage exit at the World Cup and for the good of the game that hopefully coincides with a return to his very best. Azam has averaged 25.40 in Test cricket this year, with a top score of 39 from three matches.
Whatever the formline, there is no player Australia will worry about more this summer than the dashing right-hander. Azam was the silver lining on Pakistan’s last tour of Australia, backing up a fine century at the Gabba with a dashing 97 at Adelaide.
He has so often been at his best against Australia, and last year saved Pakistan from defeat at Karachi with a marathon fourth-inning 196, denying Pat Cummins’ men for more than 10 hours.
Shaheen Shah Afridi
105 wickets at 25.58, four five-wicket halls, best of 6-51
In 2019, a baby-faced Shaheen Shah Afridi toured Australia and bowled with plenty of pace and accuracy, but for all his toil he managed just five wickets across 64 overs.
Four years on and he’s still baby faced and still bowling with plenty of pace and accuracy, but is now firmly among the world’s elite fast bowlers.
The near-two-metre tall quick has 273 international wickets to his name and he is still only 23 years old.
To put that in context, that is the fifth most international wickets taken by a men’s bowler before turning 24.
One-hundred-and-five of those wickets have come in the Test arena. Among the current Australians, Mitchell Starc’s 44 Test wickets before turning 24 stands tallest, with Pat Cummins (15), Josh Hazlewood (12) and Nathan Lyon (12) all taking fewer than 20.
Those wickets have come frequently too, with Afridi one of just eight bowlers this century to strike at better than every 50 balls (minimum 100 wickets). Afridi’s strike rate sits at 49.6, in touching distance of Australia’s Pat Cummins (47.6) and Mitchell Starc (48.6).
With his immaculate seam position and subtle wrists, his steepling bounce and toe-crushing yorkers, Afridi should be the most challenging bowler Australia take on this summer.
Hasan Ali
78 wickets at 25.67, six five-wicket hauls, best of 5-27
If Pakistan’s attack is to thrive in Australia, then Afridi cannot do it alone. Hasan Ali must step up. With express quick Naseem Shah out injured, captain Shan Masood declared Ali as Afridi’s fast-bowling partner ahead of the tour match against the PM’s XI.
An average of 25.67 suggests he is a more than capable partner for Afridi, but Ali is mercurial with a capital M. There was a point in 2021 when the right-arm quick was the world’s form Test bowler, claiming four five-wicket hauls across five innings – the outlier was a four-for.
The 24 poles he claimed across those three Tests are more than 30 per cent of the wickets he has taken in his Test career. He averaged 16.07 through 2021 and in the two years since has taken his wickets at 74.67 runs apiece.
Pakistan need him to rediscover the form of 2021 pronto.
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Originally published as Australia v Pakistan 1st Test: The five players who must step up for Pakistan to have a chance of beating Australia
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