Twenty-eight years. That is how long it has been since Pakistan last won a Test match in Australia.
A long time ago, in December 1995, a year before Imran Khan won cricket’s most expensive libel case, and two weeks after more than 22 million people watched Princess Diana’s famous BBC One interview. , Waqar Younis cleared McGrath’s stumps in honor of the humiliating defamation. This is to give them hope for more success on tour in the future after losing the series.
For 28 years, Pakistan have never won any of their six consecutive tours to Australia, losing each of their last 14.
The situation is different this time around as Pakistan go into the series against the reigning WTC champions without their best fast bowler, best spinner and another new captain (who averaged just 15.75 in their last 16 innings). There seems little chance of that changing. This is the first since his career-best 156 points against England in 2020.
The results of the series seem to be a foregone conclusion. But Pakistan may be able to take some comfort in the knowledge that the ceiling literally cannot get any lower. Even by Pakistani standards, it would take something truly extraordinary to top her many one-off Australian tours, which I rank from worst to best.
2019/20
Perhaps this was the only time Pakistan toured Australia with a poorer bowling attack than this one. Everyone knew that Pakistan could not match Australia’s batting power, which was boasted by David Warner and Steve Smith at their peak. However, the magnitude of the differences between the sites was surprising.
Pakistan’s current chief selector Wahab Riaz declined his call-up for the tour and ironically this time he publicly criticized speedster Haris Rauf, leading to Pakistan’s 16-year-old debutant Naseem Shah and They had to rely on Shaheen Afridi, a promising player who is still developing. Internationally inexperienced Imran Khan Sr. led the bowling attack.
The results were as expected. David Warner and Marnus Labus Chagne scored centuries and Australia scored his 580 and won by an innings and five runs.
<iframe Loading=”lazy” style=”border-radius: 12px;” src=”https://open.spotify.com/embed/show/1XeleYXleZeyGRpmoG2Nzw?utm_source=generator” width=”100%” height=”232″ Frameborder=”0″allowfullscreen=”allowfullscreen”></iframe> ;
In the second and final Test of the series, things got even worse for Pakistan as 19-year-old Musa Khan joined the team on his Test debut.
Clearly overwhelmed, Pakistan’s toothless bowling attack managed just three wickets for 589 runs before Australia declared Pakistan out of their misery after David Warner scored an unbeaten 335 Did.
Pakistan lost this match as well as the first by an innings and only managed to pick up 13 Australian wickets in the entire tour.
The only positive for Pakistan in this series was Yasir Shah scoring just one century at No. 8, marking a unique high point in a series of bottomless slumps. was.
2004/05
The Pakistan team that toured Australia in the summer of 2004 and 2005 was led by the great Inzamam and had a great batting line-up that included Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, and now disgraced former captain Salman Butt. -Ul-Haq, promised a lot.
Any chance of this team breaking Australia’s curse on Pakistan quickly disappeared, as Pakistan’s skilled batting line-up managed to hit only a total of 251 in the first Test, including an embarrassing 72 in the second innings. It also included an all-out, resulting in a 491-run defeat.
Like India, who lost the first match of their tour to Australia three years ago by 36 runs, they will not be able to recover even as the series progresses.
Pakistan lost their next two matches by nine wickets and could hardly catch up as they had by this time experienced the expected havoc in Australia.
1999/00
Pakistan’s 1999 tour Down Under took place just six months after they lost to Australia in the World Cup final and they dominated the tournament till the final, similar to India’s performance in the recently concluded tournament.
There was an expectation and desire for revenge. Pakistan went on the road with one of the most talented red-ball teams ever, led by Wasim Akram, and Pakistan lost just five of their 22 Tests.
Pakistan started the first Test strongly with the bat, but were outplayed by Australia and lost by 10 wickets. This was Pakistan’s first of 14 consecutive defeats in Australia.
Following the defeat in the first Test, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Mushtaq Ahmed and others struggled and lost with 4 wickets and 1 innings. Unfortunately for Pakistan, even their best efforts proved to be no match for Australia. I had to follow.
2016/17
Pakistan faced another embarrassing series loss in Australia after Steve Smith and Peter Hanscomb both reached triple figures while batting in a 172-run partnership that outscored Pakistan’s first innings by a combined 142 runs.
Pakistan lost 0-3 in this series, but it wasn’t as bad as it seemed midway through the first match as Pakistan had some good moments on this tour.
Pakistan’s defeat was a natural one as they chased the highest run total in Test match history with Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Ryan at 490. However, Asad Shafiq scored his 137 points which was amazing. This is his one of the best innings by a Pakistani in Australia. He led Pakistan to the brink of famous victory.
Despite the defeat, Pakistan went into the second match with high hopes until Azhar Ali scored an unbeaten 205 and Pakistan declared for 443. But unfortunately, Australia responded with a huge total of 624. Pakistan then surrendered in his second innings and lost by an innings after declaring in the first innings.
Pakistan lost the last Test, the best team in the world in the August 2016 Test, but just five months later in January, they suffered a disastrous defeat in an all-too-familiar series. In defeat, the wind direction was lost.
2009/10
Pakistan lost 0-3 in the match against Australia in the summer of 2009. However, this was one of only two series in which Pakistan did not lose an innings since 1999.
In the second match of this trifecta, Pakistan came very close to victory. After taking a lead of 206 in the first innings, Pakistan fell 36 runs short of an easy chase of 176, with Mohammad Asif’s superb display reducing Australia to just 127 at 41 for 6.
This shows how poor Pakistan have been in Australia, unable to chase smaller targets and not suffering defeat in an innings since their last match win in 1995. It is shown to represent Pakistan’s ‘best’ performance in Australia.
****
Considering Pakistan’s horror tour in 2019, it’s probably enough to lose the next series honorably. However, it remains to be seen whether this will actually happen.
For Shan Massoud, this is a baptism of fire. Just a few weeks after being named captain, if things go as badly as they did in 2019, he could lose his place in the team completely.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
