LONDON: Nasser Hussain said Pakistan had found the “kryptonite to Bazball” after wrapping up a 2-1 series win over England with an emphatic nine-wicket victory in Rawalpindi on Saturday.

England were beaten inside three days after suffering a dramatic collapse where they lost their last seven wickets for 46 runs.

All 20 England wickets fell to spinners for the second match in a row as Pakistan, thrashed by an innings and 47 runs in first Test, completed an impressive recovery.

Hussain, a former England captain, said Pakistan had “exposed England when the ball spins” and demonstrated that “when it spins and when it’s gripping, England don’t play spin as well or bowl spin as well as Pakistan”.

England, under coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, have become known for their aggressive ‘Bazball’ style in Test cricket, particularly when batting, as they showed while compiling a mammoth 823-7 on a flat surface in the series opener in Multan.

But it was a very different story as spinners Noman Ali and Sajid Khan, who did not feature in the first Test, took 39 of the 40 England wickets that fell in the next two matches.

“They (Pakistan) made a real, drastic change, new selectors, different pitches completely - as in they used the Multan pitch again, complete turner, came here [Rawalpindi], made it turn -- and they found the kryptonite to Bazball,” said Hussain in his role as a Sky Sports pundit. “When it spins and when it’s gripping, England don’t play spin as well or bowl spin as well as Pakistan.”

Several England batsmen struggled for runs in Pakistan, with Ollie Pope managing just 55 runs in five innings, skipper Ben Stokes 53 in four innings and opener Zak Crawley 139 in five visits to the crease.

Hussain added while the difference in pitch conditions offered some explanation for increasingly low scores, the “discrepancy with England is a concern”.

“It shouldn’t be so drastic that you play so well on flat pitches and you can hit through the line, and the moment it then grips you can’t play like that, so you’re then a little bit lost,” he said.

Michael Vaughan, another former England captain, said England needed to have “some serious conversations” about Pope’s position at number three.

“His returns suggest he does not have the mentality or technique to thrive against the very best bowlers,” wrote Vaughan in his column for Britain’s Daily Telegraph.

England, following a 4-1 series defeat in India earlier this year, have now lost six of their last seven Tests in Asia, with Hussain saying the focus on the Ashes, particularly on winning the 2025/26 campaign in Australia, was unhealthy.

“All you ever hear about is the Ashes, the Ashes away,” said Hussain. “We play so many series away before the Ashes, the conditions here are so different from Australia...It can’t all be about one series every four years away from home. You’re almost not taking Pakistan or India seriously, you’ve got to be across the board.”

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2024