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Although Pakistani press boxes serve a wide range of food, it was evident that a dessert popularity contest would be unfairly biassed when the media gathered after lunch on the first day. Before comfortably settling down at the closest table, one journalist heaped his plate high with gulab jamuns, which are ping-pong ball-sized, incredibly sweet balls of milk and dough. The home of the sugar hit is Pakistan.
Gazing through the glass window onto the pitch, Pakistani cricket had made up its mind to join in the fun as well. It had started to wear on them to stick to a long-term plan, endure hardship, and never be sure if their goals would be achieved.
Their passionate fans were just making ends meet as they had fallen to the bottom of the World Test Championship standings. They were looking for a comfort food session, not a lecture on calorie restriction.
Thus, they produced Multan 2, the version used in Pakistan. Even if they had to recycle and reheat, they already had the ingredients in the pantry for whatever they were trying to cook up. With four and a half days of cricket under its belt, the pitch was ready. It was presumed that the spinners were over their expiration date; however, upon inspecting the packing, they were found to be nearly functional. Pakistan would have to shop again, and soon, but most importantly, not today.
Even captain Shan Masood acknowledged the importance of that toss, so perhaps it’s churlish to minimise the remainder of the game at the price of that particular moment. That was the instant they received the key to open a style of play they had purposefully hidden away, almost as a result of their belief that winning a game in this manner was immoral.
The past year, they had been searching for a way to succeed that would live up to the legendary status of their fast-bowling, charismatic ancestors. Their money was put in the youthful quicks with flawless hairlines, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah, while elderly, balding spinners sat willing to work for a fraction of the cost.
The PCB seemed to have realised this last week during a brief period of clarity. There was a recent announcement of a new selection committee, bringing the total number of selectors during the previous three years to 26. A few of the players they had made investments in during the summer for the Test were not too eager to participate, while others required a break for personal reasons. Pakistan needed a victory, not a long-term strategy.
Twenty wickets for two spinners who haven’t held a red ball since January is the result of having no long-term plan. This Test, and especially the last innings, doesn’t add much to what we already know about Masood’s captaincy. There were no alterations made to the bowling strategy, and the only fielding modifications that occurred were usually to substitute a left-handed hitter or add an extra fielder to a tight catching position. Nobody really knows what Pakistan will be thinking about when they travel to South Africa in December; in fact, Masood already realised that what they had just accomplished would be hard to duplicate as early as Rawalpindi the next week.
When Noman got Shoaib Bashir to take his eighth and finally complete the web Pakistan had spun around England, several loudly applauded, and had to be sternly shushed by the others.