Picking up the thread from where they left off at Abu Dhabi, Sri Lanka inflicted a heavy defeat on Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday.

The Sri Lankans outplayed Pakistan in every department of the game to seize control of the game right from the first day as they bowled Misbah-ul-Haq’s men easily and then succeeded in taking a massive lead of over 300 runs to intensify the pressure.

Pakistan offered resistance only for a brief session when Younis Khan, Misbah and later Sarfraz Ahmed stood their guard helping to avoid an innings defeat.

But that was not enough to get out of the mess. Predicted rain could have salvaged their plight, but there was no rain, not even a drop during the day.

Sarfraz’ dismissal early in the morning after a well played 74 was just what the Sri Lankan captain Angelo Matthews wished for as Pakistan’s second innings folded immediately leaving only 137 runs for victory.

Considering Pakistan’s inept bowling attack minus the injured Bilawal Bhatti, there was hardly any threat to the Sri Lankan openers who steadily brought their team nearer to victory sharing 124 runs between them, also in the process showing the value of playing solid and straight to the Pakistan batsmen.Misbah, at the end of the day’s play, rued failure of his batsmen and wished they had played with a lot more commitment and expressed his dissatisfaction with the pitch which he thought didn’t favour his bowlers.

The captain’s complaints in this regard are appropriate since home teams do expect the wicket to provide the team with some kind of favour.

With Pakistan trailing, the onus is on leveling the series. Therefore, it is important that Misbah and his team think deeply about formation of the team and replace those who have failed to deliver.

To persist with Rahat Ali instead of playing Mohammad Talha was a wrong move. And leaving out Abdur Rehman was even a greater mistake knowing well that even Saeed Ajmal does not have that old magic and so was the inclusion of Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez who were retained after the ODI series depriving Shan Masood and Azhar Ali of the opportunity of cementing their places.

One-day players rarely succeed as Test players unless they have a streak of a genius like Adam Gilchrist, Mark Taylor, Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla and Virender Sehwag, to name a few.

As for Rahat, it is instructive to note that the fast bowler has not been impressive bowling over a hundred overs in the two Tests but has succeeded in taking only two wickets while giving away 293 runs.

Left-arm fast bowlers usually have this natural incoming ball because of the angle with which they deliver but somehow he does not have this ability nor has he so far worked on it since making his debut against South Africa last year.