South Africa have white washed Pakistan in three-match Test series. Visiting side could not put up a fight in almost all the matches, they showed some satisfactory performances with the ball but their batsmen let them down time and again.
We know that visiting South Africa for Test series and winning it is not easy as till this day no Asian team have won a series in their backward. In six attempts Pakistan just drew a Test series once in South Africa and rest of times they lost. When we talk about Test cricket, against all cricket playing nations, Pakistan have worst win loss ratio against South Africa, to be exact 16 percent win ratio. As both Test playing nations have played against each other 27 times, Pakistan could win just 4 matches, lost 16 and seven remained draw.
But it is not an excuse that if Pakistan have not won a Test series ever in South Africa so there should not be much hope to do so in future, because there is always the first time. Recently India have beaten Australia in the land of Kangaroos and became first Asian team to register a Test series win in Australia.
Since two champion batsmen of Pakistan Misbah ul Haq and Younis Khan have announced their retirement from Test cricket, no other batsman could fulfill the vacuum created by absence of legendary batsmen. Bating is a serious issue when it comes to Pakistan team, particularly in the longest format of the game. They lack technique and skills to play the innings as per requirements of Test cricket. Had they done some preparations prior to going South Africa they could have played better on the bouncy and fast pitches of South Africa. They were unable to convert their small partnerships into a significant one and lost their grip on the matches on several occasions after being in better position, mainly due to failure of batsmen. Bowlers showed some hope and grit but they were also over shadowed by the fast bowlers of opponent team. Now Pakistan will play a Test series after the world cup, team management and coaches have enough time to find out the flaws in the team in order to come back stronger.
At the moment all the focus should be on finding the right combination for ODIs World Cup that would be played in May and June this year. We hope Pakistan will brush aside miserable Test performance and will show some fight and grit in the five-match ODIs series beginning from Jan 19.