It had been a while since Pakistan last won a Test series. However, on Thursday, Pakistan thrashed Sri Lanka by an innings and 222 runs inside four days in the second Test in Colombo, handing the hosts their heaviest defeat at home and clinching the series 2-0; their first series triumph since December 2021 when they downed Bangladesh.

Winning both matches of the series, the first of Pakistan’s World Test Championship cycle for 2023-24 sent them to the top of the nascent table, with the team’s approach raising hopes that Babar Azam’s charges will do better in the longest format of the game this time round.

Pakistan struggled in the last two cycles of the WTC but its performance in Sri Lanka was much better, with the team management introducing the “Pakistan Way”; an ideology similar to England’s “Bazball”.

Upping the scoring rate while batting was a key aspect that helped Pakistan dominate. There were standout innings too with Saud Shakeel and Abdullah Shafique notching double centuries in the first and second Test respectively.

Player of the series Salman Ali Agha scored a century and a half-century across the two Tests, while Imam-ul-Haq’s unbeaten 50 anchored Pakistan’s chase in the opening Test in Galle, which they won by four wickets.

Spinners Abrar Ahmed and Nauman Ali picked up 10 wickets apiece in the series; the latter’s 7-70 in the second Test fuelling Pakistan’s romp.

After the series, Babar highlighted that his charges had raised their game. It is a bright start for Pakistan, which finished seventh in the last WTC cycle, but sterner challenges lie ahead.

Pakistan’s newfound approach will face its acid test when they travel down under in December for their next Test series against recently crowned WTC winners Australia.

Pakistan have lost their last 14 Tests in Australia but if they play as well as they did in Sri Lanka, they may have a chance to end that dismal record.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2023