Pakistan vs Sri Lanka 2017: 5 reasons why Pakistan lost the Test series

#4 Team Combination

Yasir Shah bowled 152 overs in the series which is almost 50 overs more than Herath and Perera

In Asia, it’s almost a no-brainer to go in with 2 spinners unless you’re given a green track. But Pakistan went in with 3 fast bowlers and just 1 spinner (Yasir Shah) and that might have proved to be the difference between the two sides. The Sri Lankan spinners picked 28 wickets (out of 40) and Yasir (only frontline spinner for Pakistan) took 16.

Yasir bowled a staggering 152 overs in the series – that’s 76 overs per Test. He averaged 25.12 but his strike-rate was close to 60. Yasir himself went on to admit that his workload would have been a lot less with a second spinner in the side.

Before the Sri Lanka series, Pakistan had played 18 Tests with two spinners and they won 12 of them while they played 6 Tests with 1 spinner and won only one. Moreover, the fact that they persisted with the three-pacer theory even after the first Test contributed to their downfall.