One of the key factors why Pakistan now trail England 2-1 in their ongoing Test series is the lack of decent partnerships at the start of the innings. In the six innings thus far, it makes depressing reading.

In the Lord’s Test, Shan Masood was the first man dismissed with the score on 38 in 12.1 overs of the first innings, while Hafeez perished with the total just two in the third over of the second innings.

The role reversed in the second Test at Old Trafford where Hafeez was the first man out at 27 on the last ball of the 13th over, while Shan was dismissed with seven on the board in the fifth over of the second innings.

With Sami Aslam replacing Shan for the third Test at Edgbaston, Pakistan expected the openers’ poor sequence to end but to no avail as Hafeez, the senior-most of the three openers in the squad, departed to the fourth ball of the match without troubling the scorers.

In the second innings, he perished playing another reckless stroke straight down deep backward square leg’s throat in the sixth over when Pakistan needed a big opening stand to even think of chasing down England’s target of 343.

In contrast to England’s opening stands, Pakistan have averaged just 13.33 in six innings with low scores of 8 and 19 at Lord’s, 25 and 68 at Old Trafford and 36 and 126 at Edgbaston, while Alastair Cook and Alex Hales have accumulated a combined average of 47 over the same number of innings before the first wicket went down.

Hafeez’s lack of success in the series has been the biggest worry for Pakistan. Scores of 40 and 0 at Lord’s, 18 and 42 at Old Trafford followed by 0 and 2 at Edgbaston for a total of just 102 definitely pose serious questions on whether the 35-year-old right-hander is worth his place in the playing XI for the final Test at The Oval.

Despite rich experience of 50 Test matches under his belt, Hafeez has not been a success story outside Asia.

In fact, among all the Pakistani batsmen who have played at least 25 Test innings away from Asia, Hafeez has the worst average. In 33 innings from 17 Tests, he has mustered just 643 runs at an average of only 20.09 in contrast to his overall figure of 39.22.

Furthermore, if one were to exclude the three matches against the lowly-rated Zimbabwe in their own backyard, Hafeez’s average plunges to a dismal 16.42 and that statistic looks even poorer if Hafeez’s 95 in the only innings of 2006 Oval Test is eliminated for while.

In the remaining 26 innings (with one being not out), he has scored 332 runs while averaging only 13.28 with a highest score of 42 — made in the second innings of the recent Old Trafford Test.

Away from Asia, Hafeez has managed just a solitary Test century — 119 against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo in 2011 — while his only other 50-plus knock is that 95 against England 10 years ago.

Like most Pakistanis, Hafeez has a sound record on the familiar Asian pitches with eight three-figure knocks in 33 Tests, the highest being 224 versus Bangladesh at Khulna last year.

Unsurprisingly, no Pakistan batsman who has played 25 or more innings, averages 50 or more outside of Asia.

Javed Miandad tops the list with an average of 46.14, followed by Mohammad Yousuf (45.58), Saleem Malik (44.72), Inzamam-ul-Haq (44.25), Asif Iqbal (42.63), Hanif Mohammad (42.23), Misbah-ul-Haq (40.43) and Majid Khan (40.40).

Despite all his struggles in the current series, an out of sorts Younis Khan lies fifth in this list with a healthy average of 42.69, which is more than double of what luckless Hafeez has achieved in his entire Test career!

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2016