MELBOURNE: A battered looking Pakistan team face an uphill task of remaining alive in the series Down Under when they face mighty Australia in the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

Thrashed by 360 runs in four days of the opening Test at Perth, the Shan Masood-led tourists are bruised after getting dismissed for a paltry 89 in the second innings, and now encounter a two-fold challenge in Melbourne — avoiding a defeat which otherwise will seal the three-match series and change their gloomy record in Tests on Australian soil.

Pakistan last won a Test in Australia back in 1995 when Wasim Akram-captained side managed to beat the hosts in Sydney. Since then Pakistan have lost 15 consecutive Tests in Australia, including the Perth opener of the ongoing series.

While teams having great players like Waqae Younis, Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Yousuf and others failed to record a Test victory in Australia during the past 28 years, which recipe Shan and company would apply to change the unwanted history will be an important factor.

Abrar ruled out of second Test

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s injury woes went from bad to worse with leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed the third player in as many days to be ruled out of the second Test.

Abrar missed the Perth Test with leg discomfort, and while improving, he has not recovered sufficiently to take part in the Boxing Day Test.

“Considering the nature of the injury and the workload required from a spinner in a Test match, Abrar is not yet ready and will therefore not be available for the second Test,” the Pakistan Cricket Board said in a statement.

“He will undergo a preliminary fitness test on Dec 25, which will determine his probable return-to-play date.”

Earlier, off-spinner Sajid Khan had already been called up as Abrar’s cover in Australia. Sajid has featured in seven Tests so far picking up 22 wickets.

Abrar’s ouster due to injury follows fellow spinner Noman Ali being hospitalised with acute appendicitis and ruled out of the rest of the series. Mohammad Nawaz has been drafted as Noman’s replacement.

Pace bowler Khurram Shahzad is another injury casualty, sidelined for the last two Tests with a stress fracture in the ribs along with an abdominal muscle tear after impressing on his debut in Perth.

The young pacer claimed five wickets on his debut at Perth in a raw pace unit comprising vice-captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, Aamer Jamal and all-rounder Faheem Ashraf. The 27-year-old Aamer, another right armer, began his Test career in the series opener with seven wickets.

Pakistan are already weakened in the bowling department, with injured fast bowler Naseem Shah sidelined and Haris Rauf having opted out of the ongoing ser­ies to play in Australia’s T20 Big Bash League.

Naseem’s absence during the Asia Cup was badly felt by Pakistan during this year’s ODI World Cup staged in India. The 20-year-old pacer, who made his Test debut against Australia at Brisbane in 2019, first rose to prominence during the Rawalpindi Test against Bangladesh in 2020 when he became the youngest bowler (aged 16) to take a hat-trick in the game’s toughest format. Since then he has developed himself gradually as a potent fast bowler in international cricket across all formats.

The perennial fragility of the batting department over the years has been a major worry for Pakistan, and the ongoing series is no different.

The third and final Test will be staged in Sydney (Jan 3-7).

The scanty number of runs former captains Babar Azam and Sarfraz Ahmed — the two most experienced batters in the present Test squad — scored in Perth will make the Pakistan camp considerably concerned ahead of the MCG game.

Though Shan, captaining the Test team for the first time in his career, plus openers Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq showed some grit in Perth, none of them could convert their scores into big ones.

Moreover, middle-order batter Saud Shakeel and all-rounder Salman Ali Agha will also need to lift their batting significantly against a world-class Australian pace attack comprising skipper Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Marsh and backed by veteran off-spinner Nathan Lyon who joined the 500 Test wickets club in Perth.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2023