What's wrong with Pakistan's Test Team?

Why?

If you take a look at the overall performance of the batsmen during the three years, that Misbah has been in charge, it actually shows that they have been quite solid.

I do not think that Pakistan has ever had a top 6 that has been as consistent as this one. Pull out the batsmen averages for any 3 year period, I doubt that any 6 will have given a better cumulative performance over a sustained period.

The bowling has been spearheaded by the world’s bets spinner, Saeed Ajmal; and his supporting cast been quite strong.

However, there is a stark contrast between the performance of the players in the first 18 months of Misbah’s Test captaincy and that in the next 18 months.

The dip in performance of the batsmen is significant.

While three of Pakistan’s batsmen averaged above 50, with two averaging well above 60, between November 2010 and February 2012, none of them averaged above 50 during the period between March 2012 and September 2013.

There is a clear dip in form of Azhar Ali, who stood like a rock at number 3 during the first half of Misbah’s captaincy tenure. While Younis Khan has continued to be a dominating force even in the latter period, there is a big difference from his superlative performance during the initial period. Much like Misbah.

There are two clear reasons for this drop in performance levels.

Out of the 15 tests in the initial period, Pakistan played 8 of them in the UAE, which even though is not home for the batsman, is somewhat similar to home and harbours favorable batting conditions. Additionally, out of the 7 away Tests in this period, 3 were in Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

Over the next period, Pakistan played all of the 8 Tests in testing foreign conditions of Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Not playing at “home” has not helped Pakistan’s Test batsman and they have not been able to translate their “home” successes in foreign conditions.

The other reason is scheduling of course.

While Pakistan played 15 Tests in 16 months between November 2010 and February 2012, they played only 8 Tests over the next 19 months!