It continues to go from bad to worse for Pakistan – the 90-run defeat to West Indies in the first Test in Tarouba was their eighth consecutive loss away from home in the format. There have been slumps before but never have they lost this many in a row. The selectors rung in the changes ahead of this tour by reappointing Babar Azam as Test captain and overhauling the bowling attack. That has proven futile so far.Pakistan kicked off their preparations for the second Test with an optional training session at the Queen’s Park Oval in Port of Spain on Thursday. They will look to make the most of the next two days with full squad practice sessions, with an eye on potential changes to their XI. There will be one forced change, of course, with Shan Masood ruled out with a broken index finger.
Cricinfo looks at potential combinations for the second Test, which begins on Sunday.
Who will replace Shan Masood?
Pakistan called up Abdullah Shafique and Saud Shakeel to their squad after Abdullah Fazal was ruled out of the ongoing series and the England tour after what the PCB said was an “acute lower back injury” on the eve of the first Test. Both Shafique and Shakeel took part in Thursday’s training session.The squad also has an uncapped middle-order batter in Awais Zafar. But now, with the series on the line, Pakistan would likely be inclined to bank on the experience of Shafique or Shakeel instead of handing a Test debut to Zafar. The catch is that neither of them have ever batted at No. 3 – Masood’s position – in Tests.
Though Babar had moved to No. 3 in the second innings in Tarouba with Masood unable to come out at his usual slot, Pakistan would prefer their best batter to come out at his regular position, No. 4, where he averages 50.09. That will allow them to slot Shafique at three, with his skillset as an opener handy there against the Dukes ball.
Or they could look to move either Imam-ul-Haq or Azan Awais – the openers in the first Test – to three with Shafique back as an opener. But, again, neither Imam nor Awais has batted at three before.
Yet another option is to have Babar stay at three, given that he scored an unbeaten half-century in the second innings in Tarouba and has batted there plenty of times before. That could open up the possibility of Shakeel’s return to the XI in the middle order, or a debut for Zafar, who has mostly batted at five or six in his first-class career.
Aamer Jamal didn’t give himself too many chances to celebrate in the first Test•AFP/Getty Images
A batter or an allrounder?
Pakistan generally prefer extending their batting order, so their decision to go in with only six specialist batters for the first Test was a surprise.
In theory, the addition of Aamer Jamal at No. 7 was supposed to provide balance to the side, but Jamal struggled. He returned 2 for 120 across two innings with the ball, and scoring three and zero.
As a result, Pakistan may retreat to their previous strategy of fielding seven batters and four bowlers for the second Test. This will open up spaces for both Shafique and Shakeel with the top seven potentially reading: Awais, Imam, Shafique, Babar, Mohammad Rizwan, Shakeel, and Salman Ali Agha.
Ubaid Shah could be given a go in Port of Spain because of his extra pace•Getty Images
Or Ubaid Shah?
Though Pakistan’s pace attack matched that of West Indies to an extent in helpful conditions, their sub-par speeds has been a concern. The average pace of the touring fast bowlers was 128.4kph in comparison with West Indies’ 132.3kph.
West Indies might consider replicating the seam-friendly Tarouba conditions in Port of Spain. And this might tempt Pakistan to spice up their attack by adding Ubaid Shah, who possesses the ability to hit 140kph.
Ubaid, the youngest brother of Naseem Shah and Hunain Shah, earned his maiden call-up for this tour because of his express pace. With Mohammad Abbas, Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Ali all line-and-length bowlers, Ubaid’s pace could be a point of difference in an otherwise one-dimensional seam attack.
Mohammad Ali picked up four wickets in the first innings of the first Test•AFP/Getty Images
How about an all-pace bowling attack?
Spin played a negligible role in the first Test with Ali Usman and Jomel Warrican bowling only 11% of the overs bowled across four days and all 40 wickets falling to pacers, which was only the sixth time in the almost 150 years of the format’s history. If the conditions at Queen’s Park are similar to Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Pakistan may consider dropping Usman altogether.
This allows them to prolong their batting to number eight with Jamal retaining his place and Shafique and Shakeel coming in. The other option will be swapping Jamal for Ubaid and fielding an all-pace attack with their batting still extending until seven. In the latter scenario, Babar can look towards Agha when he feels the need for spin.
But if Pakistan feel that the pitch may turn as the match progresses, they can not only retain Usman but further strengthen spin by including offspinner Sajid Khan, who is also a handy lower-order batter.
Though Usman bowled immaculately with his lines and lengths after the first two overs, they might also consider swapping him with Sajid and go with only one spinner regardless of the right-handed-heavy West Indian batting. This move can benefit Pakistan if there is turn in the pitch from outside the offstump channel and with the right-arm fast bowlers forming footmarks from bowling around the wicket to the left-handers. Pakistan, in this case, would hope that both the openers and Shakeel last long in the middle.
Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi is a cricket journalist based in Lahore
