The series win against the Australians in the UAE heralds the beginning of a new era for Pakistan cricket.

The emphatic manner of our players’ victory against a formidable Australia after a gap of 20 years indicates a turnaround in the fortunes of Pakistan which barely a month ago was struggling to hold its own in international cricket. The successive defeats in Sri Lanka followed by a 3-0 whitewash at the hands of the Aussies in the ODI series last month had pundits of the game all but writing off Pakistan for the Tests.

However, the same critics are now running out of superlatives in describing the excellent effort put in by Misbah-ul-Haq and his men for rewriting the record books with their prolific scoring against Australia. And for once, it is the Pakistani batsmen who stole the limelight.

Leading the way was Younis Khan who scored three hundreds in four innings including a double century to make his mark as a top batsman in world cricket. His performance clearly rubbed off on his mates, including skipper Misbah who made a hurricane 56-ball century in Abu Dhabi to equal the world record held by Vivian Richards since 1986.

Three players — Younis, Misbah and Azhar Ali — accomplished the rare feat of scoring a century in each innings during the series, while opener Ahmed Shehzad and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed also reached the three-figure mark.

In bowling too, there was much to celebrate for Pakistan as veteran Saeed Ajmal’s loss became young Yasir Shah’s gain. The talented leg-spinner formed a lethal duo with Zulfiqar Babar against the Australians.

The defeat of the latter, meanwhile, has raised some serious questions about their ability to cope with the turning pitches in the subcontinent as well as in the Middle East.

It is now imperative for Pakistan to keep up the tempo and extend its winning streak against New Zealand in the upcoming series so that it can become a formidable contender in the World Cup 2015.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2014