Five challenges Pakistan will face ahead of the England series

#4 Over-reliance on the Azhar-Asad pair

Pakistan will need Ali and Shafiq to assert their dominance

While the Pakistan squad is characterized by inexperience and dynamism, they do have two players who have been around the Test arena for a while now.

They are both temperamentally sound batsmen with techniques that can cope in the seaming conditions in England, but this time around, the price they must put on their wicket will be higher than ever.

The duo played second fiddle to the greatness of Ul Haq and Younus Khan for far too long and did it to perfection more often than not. This time around, though, they need to don the roles of the iconic duo and step up to the high expectations from them.

However, if Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq fail to assert their dominance on the proceedings, competing with the hosts will be an increasingly uphill task for Ahmed and team.

While Ali could not make an impact in both the innings against Ireland, Shafiq scored a decent fifty in the first.

They need to take the charge to the opposition though, by not settling for small scores anymore and realizing that they are the ones to take it home for Pakistan this time around.