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For artists of all shades, it is an eternal question: how do you follow up a masterpiece? Do you give up resigned in the knowledge that most of humanity has the capacity to produce one truly great piece of work in a life? Do you strive to replicate it, knowing that merely reproducing it might be enough to get by? Or do you struggle on, weighed down by the probability that you can’t better it but floating on the possibility that you might?
Professional sport is so relentless and unforgiving that the question itself is a sign of weakness, let alone for there to exist the possibility of answers. The whole point is to be better than your last game, to win a 17th Test in a row, to follow a hundred with a double, to accept that nothing is perfect but to still reach for it.
Can Pakistan be better than they were at Lord’s? Putting aside that they don’t need to be if England are even worse than they were, Lord’s was as comprehensive an away performance as Pakistan have had in a generation. They were dominant at The Oval in 2016 too, but batting conditions especially weren’t as tough as Lord’s. And the Lord’s win was built on more collective contributions.
Almost all their batsmen and all the bowlers played a part. The fielding was strong throughout and there was just one flat – not poor – session.
The complicated thing about asking whether and how Pakistan can be better is that not only is this a new side – there were four changes in the XI from their last Test in Dubai – it is a new type of side. And because it is a new type, able to field a five-man attack with little compromise to batting depth, the question becomes one of potential. Are there areas where they can improve on Lord’s in Leeds? And the longer-term one – how much better can this side get?
Go big
Conditions at Lord’s, even on the second day, were tough for batsmen. The ball continued to swing in the air and find something in the surface. Yet Pakistan’s batsmen mixed just the right amount of discipline with intent. Four of them got fifties, two of them got into the high 30s and even Mohammad Amir chipped in with an unbeaten 24.
It was an excellent display, the only complaint to which can be that one of them didn’t go on (Babar Azam, potentially, could’ve). “As well as we played at Lord’s, we can still play better than that,” said their captain, Sarfraz Ahmed. “If you look at our batting, we made four fifties at Lord’s and if one of them had gone on to the big hundred that would’ve been even better.”
Don’t revert to type
Pakistan’s fielding at Lord’s has rightly been lauded. And it has been, more or less, on an upward curve (though more in the shorter formats). Cricviz figures show Pakistan to have caught 80% of their Test catches since Mickey Arthur took over, behind only South Africa and New Zealand.
The ground fielding too, with Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf and even Imam-ul-Haq, is quicker, more athletic. But nobody should be getting carried away just yet that this is the new permanent. Malahide, where they dropped catches and were outfielded by Ireland, was only two Tests ago. They wilted in the final session on the third day at Lord’s as well.
To become a truly top fielding side, they will have to replicate Lord’s day in, day out, and will have to ensure that whoever comes into the team – Usman Salahuddin on Friday for instance – is as intense.
Shadab to choke
Shadab has had two good Tests back-to-back. There’s good news about his batting and even though he has six wickets in those two games, he is still clearly a developing prospect.
Despite two important wickets at Lord’s, he wasn’t able to apply the kind of pressure on England that Pakistan would have wanted. It’s not fair to expect him to just yet, but imagine if his Test bowling develops to the standards that people around him think it can. Yasir Shah and Shadab together offer Pakistan unimaginable options.
The surface at Headingley looks dry and it does help spin towards the back-end of games, but more than the wickets, if Shadab can keep runs in check – he went at nearly four an over at Lord’s – that would be a start.
Forget Lord’s
It’s been four days since Lord’s and, given the context, it would be easy to still be swirling around in the jubilation. They cannot, as Sarfraz was at pains to insist.
“We’re trying to take it match by match with this team,” he said in Leeds. “We won the first match against Ireland, then we forgot it and moved on. If we want to move ahead as a team we have to forget our wins. We did well, we enjoyed it for two days but now we’re here. And if we are to move up in the rankings we need to forget our wins and keep moving on.”