Former England batsman Geoff Boycott says that despite possessing a formidable arsenal of spinners, Pakistan must focus on putting runs on the board against South Africa because its batsmen had “the ability to do some extraordinarily stupid things.”

“The problems with the Pakistani batsmen barring Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq aren’t technical issues. It’s more to do with what’s between their ears. With some of them, there is nothing between the ears!" Boycott told Pakpassion.net in a interview.

‘Hosts’ Pakistan are expected to roll out slow, spin-friendly tracks when they take on Graeme Smith’s team in a two-Test series starting from Monday in Abu Dhabi.

Smith's Proteas have dominated the five-day format and are unbeaten in a Test series (away from home) since losing to Sri Lanka in 2006. But the potentially placid tracks are expected to ask a few questions of the number-one ranked side.

But Boycott says rather than being fixated with the quality of their spin-attack the Pakistanis should worry about their batting line up.

“The problem with the Pakistan batsmen is that they will suddenly explode and do something daft and get themselves out by playing irresponsible shots. That’s more due to the playing conditions back home in Pakistan, where they get away with playing sloppy shots but you don’t get away with such shots so easily when the opposition is of a higher quality and the bowling is very good.

“Batting is not only about footwork and technique but also about thinking - cricket thinking. The Pakistani batsmen have the ability to do some extraordinarily stupid things. If you tie them down, stop them scoring for a while then suddenly they get nervous and tense and feel they have to 'beat the ball' instead of playing their way out of a difficult situation,” Boycott added.

Boycott said Pakistan could come out on top despite the odds provided they stuck to a simple plan.

“Pakistan’s game plan should be to stay level with or close to the South Africans for the first three days and then [Saeed] Ajmal and [Abdur] Rehman can come into their own. The key for the Pakistani batting line up is stay as close as possible to South Africa’s first innings totals.”