Just about after an hour in the first session of the first Test between Australia and Pakistan in Perth, Harsha Bhogle made his view clear that this was the weakest and slowest Pakistani pace attack he has ever seen in his decades of experience of watching Test cricket.
Australia and Pakistan kicked off their 3-Test series on Thursday in Perth. And though this wasn’t the typically spicy Perth pitch, Pakistan’s pace attack looked timid and toothless as they went wicketless in the first session.
Because of an injury to Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf opting out of playing this Test series, Pakistan had to field two debutant medium pacers, Aamer Jamal and Khurram Shahzad, with Shaheen Afridi leading their pace attack.
Pace-bowling allrounder Faheem Ashraf got the nod as the fourth seamer as Pakistan looked to add some batting depth with Agha Salman, a batter who could bowl decent off-spin, being the only spinner in their side.
Pakistan, under new skipper Shan Masood, surprisingly benched the experienced Hasan Ali though.
This decision to bench the experienced Hasan Ali came under the scanner as the Pakistani bowlers couldn’t pick a single wicket in the first session with David Warner and Usman Khawaja dominating the proceedings, and then going on to score 164 runs.
The bowlers did, however, manage to salvage something from the day as apart from David Warner, no other Australian batsman could reach half-century. The day ended with Australia at 346/5 in 84 overs.
While Australia would be slightly disappointed in having ceased some of the ground after being 304/3, losing Travis Head and Warner in quick succession, which remained a big positive for Pakistan today.
Harsha Bhogle makes a tweet about Pakistan’s pace bowling attack against Australia
In the first session, Australia reached 100 runs in 19.5 overs and the hosts were 117/0 at Lunch on Day 1. As Australia looked set for a big total, Harsha Bhogle tweeted about Pakistan’s pace bowling attack.
Harsha Bhogle tweeted: “Long time since I saw Pakistan play test cricket without genuine pace.”
Harsha Bhogle is one of the most experienced commentators who has been commentating on international cricket since 1992 and has observed Pakistan cricket at its best under Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, followed by the likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, and Mohammad Amir. Seeing this pace attack today prompted Harsha to make this tweet.
