Pak vs Ban: Dispirited Pakistan turn to Abrar to end misery

Pakistan were bruised and battered. It had been an agonising start to the Test against Bangladesh.
There are times when your execution is wrong. Sometimes your tactics go awry. That’s all part of the game. You expect the best but prepare for the worst.
But, when the opposition rips apart your entire game plan on the first day of a two-match Test series, you are pretty much in for an excruciating ride.
That’s where Pakistan found themselves in early December of 2022.

Pakistan’s Zahid Mahmood clean bowled by England’s Mark Wood (not pictured) during the fourth day of the second cricket Test match between Pakistan and England at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan on December 12. — AFP

Pakistan had laid out a slow and flat surface for the Rawalpindi Test to counter England’s seam and spin attack.
The hosts had deployed a similar strategy against Australia.
Though the margin of the series defeat was not as dreadful as it was being pre-empted, Australia still flew away with the Qadir-Benaud Trophy after ripping apart Pakistan with a menacing reverse swing spell in the third and final Test in Lahore.

Replicating such surfaces for England, who were high on the success of bazball, a strategy that revolved around scoring at brisk rates, was perhaps one of the most epic blunders in the history of Test cricket.
What could the Englishmen — a side that looks to dispatch every ball — desire more than a flat wicket in an away Test?

England racked up a record 506 for four on the first day with four of their top-five scoring centuries.
Humbled by 74 runs in Rawalpindi and with Naseem Shah joining the list of injured fast bowlers (Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf, the other two), Pakistan’s problems were compounding.
Hoping for a change of fortunes, Pakistan team management dispatched Mohammad Yousuf to Multan during the Rawalpindi Test to ensure some assistance for spinners.
When a bespectacled young spinner stood at the top of his mark to bowl the ninth over of the Multan Test — the second of the series — entire Pakistan pinned their hopes on him.
A lot had been said about this boy from Karachi, a mystery spinner who had been taking wickets in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy for fun (43 in seven matches with five five-fors) that season.
Despite his stint in the Trophy being curtailed to seven matches because of the Test call-up, he would remain the highest wicket-taker that season.
Such was the impact!
Fresh from a dominating 172 off 159 in Rawalpindi, Zak Crawley dispatched Abrar’s first ball in Test cricket through the covers for a couple. Three dots later, Abrar snarled him with a googly that ripped his defences.
The child prodigy had maiden Test wicket in his first over in international cricket. Eyes-focused, quick run-up to the crease, casual hop, high-arm release, a subtle change in the wrist, and flick of the ring finger. Abra-ca-dabra!

Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed celebrates after taking the wicket of England’s Ben Stokes in Multan on December 9. — Reuters/File

By lunch, Abrar had recorded himself in the history books by becoming only the fourth debutant to take five wickets in the first session across 12 astonishing overs.
By the close of play, he would become Pakistan’s third bowler to finish his debut innings with seven wickets.
He was well on course to pick all ten wickets as the first fell to him — the sixth dismissal being the most eye-catching.
Ben Stokes, the England captain, had had enough with this young kid messing around.
Since he had taken charge of the team, England had been dismantling bowling attacks.
England made sure that their scoring rate remained around five an over that day as well.
But, with the wickets falling in tandem, England continued to run out of resources to post a challenging score as Abrar ran riot.
Pakistan, for long, had longed for the perfect mix of craft and discipline.
Abrar bowled variations, but rarely faltered his line and lengths.
He bowled leg-breaks, googlies, caroms, and top-spinners — all with the precision of a guided missile as five of the seven wickets came off the good length.
The broadcasters were obsessed with him. They ran the split-screen packages of his variations on repeat.
Stokes smacked him for a six and a four. But, then, Abrar produced a vicious googly that turned away from length hitting into the top of off as the left-hander lunged forward to dead bat it.
Whether it was in disbelief or awe, Stokes had his mouth open as soon as he was beaten, perhaps the greatest compliment the debutant could have had that day.
Pakistan had played their cards right and it was paying off.
They had shunned the philosophy of neutering the opposition’s strength with moribund surfaces and unveiled their most lethal weapon, which many believed should have been done a week earlier.
Abrar had kept Mohammad Zahid out of Sindh’s first XI in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy that season, but Pakistan preferred to hand the latter Test debut ahead of the former in the first Test at Rawalpindi.
Pakistan fell just 26 runs short of victory after a questionable caught-behind decision sent well-set Saud Shakeel back to the pavilion.
That the margin of the defeat had come down was because of this upstart who would take four more in the second innings to be the only second Pakistan bowler to take 11 wickets on debut, after fast bowler Mohammad Zahid.
Pakistan celebrated Abrar.
He had emerged when the country reeled from a spin bowling famine: Yasir Shah was well past his prime; an aged Zahid Mahmood, who debuted in the Rawalpindi Test, looked nowhere near comfortable; Mohammad Nawaz struggled to evolve into a specialist spinner; and the fresh talent in domestic circuit did not show much promise.
He continued to live up to the promise and would take 17 more wickets in the next three Tests, including a five-for in the first of the two matches against New Zealand in Karachi.
The sluggish surfaces and dropped chances stretched him in the field.
He bowled over 238 overs in eight innings with a strike rate of over 51.
But, Pakistan, who had not won a Test at home since February 2021 and had lost four of the last eight at home, were happy that they had unearthed one for the future.
But then reality kicked in!
The Pakistan Cricket Board had been one of the boards heavily influenced by the glamour and bonanza of T20 cricket.
The team hardly plays more than two Tests in a series in the six World Test Championship series, spanning across two years, which makes long-form cricket scattered in the team’s international cricket calendar.
Pakistan’s next Test assignment came six months later in Sri Lanka.
A new-look Pakistan, which attacked more with the bat, comfortably bagged the series 2-0 and Abrar finished as the joint-highest wicket-taker in his first away series.

Naseem Shah (L) celebrates with captain Babar Azam (R) after taking the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Dinesh Chandimal (not pictured) during the first day of the second and final cricket Test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground in Colombo on July 24. — AFP/File

He would wait another six months for his next Test assignment — this time a daunting prospect Down Under.
Not much was expected from Pakistan, a side now reeling from the chaos of the 50-over World Cup and unnecessary politicking within the board that brought in new captain and team management.

Pakistan lost 3-0 and Abrar did not feature in any of the games, ostensibly due to an injury in his leg that he had picked in the practice game in Canberra ahead of the series.
He had an incredible PSL 2024, finishing as the third-best bowler, in terms of wickets taken and that also at an economy rate better than those above on the list.
Such was his significance for Quetta Gladiators that he bowled all 40 overs possible in his 10 games.
He was put on the plane to the USA for the T20 World Cup.
It underscored Pakistan’s love for him and the dearth of quality spin bowlers in Pakistan.
The mystery spinner, however, turned into a mystery himself when Pakistan opted to keep him benched throughout the tournament and in the preparation series in Ireland and England.
Abrar first impressed in competitive cricket with a memorable spell to Eoin Morgan in the 2017 edition of the PSL for Karachi Kings.
He would keep the T20 big hitter in check, allowing him only 17 off 16 balls in an innings in which he amassed 87 off 50.
A lower-back injury ate up some years of his competitive cricket career and he returned to the scene in 2020 when he was selected for Sindh’s second XI.
Abrar was under a heavy weight of expectations when he stood at his mark in Multan on his debut.
Pakistan had lost their whole fast bowling contingent and the team had qualms about Zahid, who in Rawalpindi had sent down the most expensive figures for a debutant.
The 25-year-old was named in the 12-player squad on the eve of the second Test and is expected to make a return to the format after more than a year.
It was bizarre that he was left out for the first Test that was sealed by two Bangladeshi spinners on the final day.
Pakistan camp later justified the decision to play him in an ‘A’ team first-class game against Bangladesh by saying he needed match practice.
He could have gotten it along with Naseem Shah, Mohammad Ali, Mir Hamza, Saim Ayub, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and vice-captain Saud Shakeel, who played the first first-class between Pakistan Shaheens and Bangladesh ‘A’ a week out of the first Test.
Like in Multan that day, Pakistan are relying on Abrar to rescue them.
The stakes, however, are higher this time.
The team has not won a Test at home for the last nine matches and after a humiliating defeat to Bangladesh last week faces the prospect of a maiden series defeat if they do not win the second match.
The team’s well-wishers continue to dwindle with every game – within and outside the country — and the cries for a reset in how the board’s affairs are run continue to get louder.
Abrar is affectionately known as ‘Harry Potter’ in Pakistan’s domestic circles for the magic he springs on the opposition with his mystery spin.
Friday onwards, the team, board, and fans will hope that his magic ends their seemingly never-ending misery.