ENG vs PAK | Ageas Bowl Day 2 Talking Points- Babar Azam’s conversion issue, Pakistan’s wicketkeeper curse and Bad light stops play

ByAakash Sivasubramaniam,SportsCafe Editor

08/14/2020

It is the second consecutive day at Ageas Bowl that we have not witnessed a complete day’s play due to bad light ruling out several overs in the day which has put the game in a very precarious position. However, in the limited-overs we got, Pakistan were reduced to 223/9, with Rizwan unbeaten on 60.

Brief Scores: Pakistan 223/9 in 86 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 60*, Stuart Broad 3/56) against England at the end of Day 2.

Babar Azam isn’t still a world-class batsman yet

Babar Azam is already one of Pakistan’s top batsmen and at the Ageas Bowl, he was presented with an opportunity to join the likes of Steve Smith and Virat Kohli as one of the best in red-ball cricket. What does he do? Pretty well till lunch on Day 2 but just after that, he missed his opportunity to put out a statement in Southampton, edging one to the keeper off Stuart Broad’s bowling. For most parts of Day 1 and early part on Day 2, Azam’s patience was itself an art, as he seamlessly left deliveries after deliveries outside the off-stump.

His ability to play according to the changing conditions has been a pretty positive point for the Pakistani team but should he be really classed a world-class batsman? According to CricViz, Babar Azam has faced this many balls in a Test innings on 20 occasions; only once has he left a higher proportion of his deliveries alone than the 25% he's managed so far in this knock. That actually represents how tough of a grind it was but him getting out on 47 shows how he had the opportunity to prove a point yet failed to uplift his game.

We have given him more than enough credit for his incredible show but if he can’t start lifting his game, then he wouldn't and shouldn't be classed as a world-class batsman. Yes, he left around 33% of the deliveries that he faced but at the same time, he also more importantly missed the opportunity to elevate his status in world cricket.

Can Mohammad Rizwan outlive Pakistan’s disastrous past with glovemen?

Two summers ago, Pakistan and its management were still sure that Sarfraz Ahmed was the right way to go, with the wicketkeeper-batsman backed so heavily. However, over the course of the next two years, his stock has fallen quite drastically, limited to just being on the bench and carrying drinks. But to understand Pakistan’s wicketkeeper dilemma, we might have to go back several years, when Kamran Akmal was picked in the setup. The right-hander performed, even out-performed to his potential before hitting the shell. His brother, Umar Akmal had a similar curve in his red-ball career.

Then arrived the new wave, Sarfraz Ahmed and his form certainly showed Pakistan’s wicketkeeper future in comparatively safer light but only till 2019. When 2019 arrived, his form and his tactics combined together to become a disastrous tale in the Pakistan's wicket-keeper book. As a result, Mohammad Rizwan, who had already played for Pakistan in the shortest format, entered the stage with immense potential. He’s played only eight Test matches but five of them in Australia, England and Sri Lanka.

Against Australia in the two Tests, he has scored 177 runs, at an average of 44.25. In England, while he had a tough start at Old Trafford, he has come right back with a 60, enough to cement his place ahead of Sarfraz Ahmed. More importantly, the question is - Can Mohammad Rizwan outlive Pakistan’s disastrous past with glovemen? At the moment, it certainly looks positive but as they say, Pakistan’s past with the wicketkeepers has been pretty much in the same boat as England’s past with rain.

Bad Light stands between Steve Elworthy's promises and reality

Ahead of England’s well-awaited summer plans, Steve Elworthy promised to bring back cricket in England and truly, he lived up to his words with England’s series against West Indies. The three matches had gone by, with relative ease and cricket looked all hunky-dory with smiles all over. Even in those smiling times, Jofra Archer’s case was arguably a blip to Steve Elworthy’s plans of bringing back cricket flawlessly. More than those issues (on-field) ones, it has been the uncontrollable ones that have put England in a bad light, literally!

In the last two Tests against Pakistan, both sets of players have at least stepped off the field ten times, owing to bad light or rain. While they can’t certainly do anything about the English weather, as of yet at least, they should start taking care of the bad light? Illuminated cricket balls, landing strip lights on the cricket pitch, headlamps on helmets are pretty much hilarious options, none of them would work. What is more feasible, however, is that they could start the play an hour early, which allows them to make up for the bad light.

On top of that, they could also eliminate the bad light by playing under the floodlights, an option that they have exercised before or even having a day-nighter encounter with the pink ball. In cricketing terms, there are literally three solutions right in front of them and these three could really remove the bad light out of the equation. However, it is, bad light now stands between Steve Elworthy’s promises and the literal dim reality.