INJURY worries in the Pakistan squad have now suddenly pushed them on the back foot in the first Test starting today against England.

Azhar Ali’s foot injury, which ruled him out of the match on Saturday, was already a huge setback for the fact that he was one of the most successful batsmen in Pakistan’s clean sweep over England when the two teams last met here in 2012.

And now the back injury to Yasir Shah — who was led back to the dressing room yesterday after suffering a back spasm during nets, makes the situation even grimmer for Misbah-ul-Haq and Company. He looked in pain which no doubt is a cause for concern, and if he misses out this crucial game, it will obviously have a considerable bearing on the outcome of the series.

Yasir’s replacement is not immediately available and Pakistan have only little option now and that is to rely on Zulfiqar Babar and on Shoaib Malik who is set to play in a Test after a gap of five years. His performance in the limited over games has earned him a place but Yasir’s absence will no doubt limit Pakistan spin attack considerably.

A confident Pakistan now looks a bit shaky at the prospect of Yasir not being in the team. In the last series Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman had done most of the damage on pitches of low and slow bounce and similarly, Yasir was expected to be Pakistan’s trump card in the series.

Pakistan bowlers will now have to work even harder, as admitted by skipper Misbah-ul-Haq in the presser on Monday. “Our task could be a lot tougher in this series,” he said.

Pakistan therefore will have to be contented with what is available to contain the English batsmen with a mix bunch of bowlers including Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali and Junaid Khan besides Zulfiqar and Malik.

For Misbah this is an important series after recent victories against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. His role as a leader and also as an important figure in the batting line-up would be vital. So would be the performance of Younis Khan, the most successful amongst the Pakistan batsmen who is only 19 runs away from becoming the highest run maker for Pakistan in Test matches.

A lot will depend how well he, Misbah and the rest cope with two of the best fast bowlers on circuit, Jemmie Anderson and Stuart Broad.

They excel in their own conditions, as they did in the recently concluded Ashes series, but on slower tracks and under cloudless skies here they may find it difficult.

Alastair Cook has more options besides the two record-breaking fast bowlers including Moeen Ali who looks so ordinary as an off-spinner but he certainly is consistent and keeps a nagging length and line to pick up wickets. And here the pitches may suit him too.

The Yorkshire right-arm leg-spinner Adil Rashid could also be a part of the squad. Having seen him a number of times, I am not really impressed with his high action. It is very different from a usual wrist spinner but he can bat a bit too and that goes in his favour.

Of what I saw of England recently in the Ashes series, I am not convinced that England’s batting has the strength or consistency to survive on such pitches as we have here. Cook and Joe Root are key for England and if an ageing Ian Bell regains his form which has eluded him last English summer, England may yet become a lot more competitive than they were in their last outing here .

Bear in mind too that only a point separates them in the Test rankings which means that a win or a defeat for each of the two would no doubt matter most in the end.

Published in Dawn, October 13th , 2015

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