Misbah-ul-Haq is looking at every possibility regarding the makeup of his team before Thursday’s fourth Test here, with the Pakistan captain eyeing a drawn series with England that he believes would represent a continuation of their domination in recent times.
While his opposite number, Alastair Cook, has named his team a day before each Test this summer, Misbah has consistently kept his plans quiet until the toss. After the 141-run defeat at Edgbaston last Sunday that puts the tourists 2-1 down with one match remaining there is much for him and the team coach Mickey Arthur to ponder.
Pakistan’s lack of an all-rounder has allowed England to stretch the tourists’ four-man attack over the past two Tests, with Misbah pondering whether to pick the uncapped middle-order batsman Iftikhar Ahmed with a view to using his part-time off-breaks. It would mean displacing the opener Mohammad Hafeez, averaging 20 in the series, and move the No3, Azhar Ali, up one spot.
“We need to win this Test match, and we’re looking at every possibility that can give us the right balance,” Misbah said. “It’s difficult. We normally play three Test matches in a series and in our own conditions fast bowlers don’t have to bowl much. When you come to these conditions and they have to bowl more than 20 overs every day, it is not easy for them. It’s tough for them to recover with that big workload. But these fast bowlers need to really step up and show what they are made of in this last Test match.”
One such fast bowler, Sohail Khan, flagged in the second innings at Edgbaston after a maiden five-wicket haul in the first and could also make way for Wahab Riaz, who has happy memories of The Oval from his debut in 2010 when he claimed six wickets.
Misbah, whose side’s most recent encounters with England in the United Arab Emirates led to 3-0 and 2-0 series victories in 2012 and last winter respectively, claims there is little between the sides, bar the steamrollering at Old Trafford that followed their victory in the opener at Lord’s.
“In the third Test, I believe it was some of our mistakes that let England come back,” he said. “Even on the last day, until lunch it was looking like a draw so I think the team can do it, the way we are playing. We are really competing well but we need to combine those performances.
“At Lord’s Yasir Shah took 10 wickets and some of our batsmen put in good performances and we need to combine those efforts to win. The performances are here and there but we are not translating them into a victory.”
“If you look at it after 2010, we dominated England in our conditions – we won six Test matches, five in the UAE and the first one here. We have dominated such a good team, who are competitive in any conditions. Now they’ve won two Tests in their own conditions – in the second one they just outplayed us but the third was competitive.”
