An incredible turn of events occurred during Pakistan’s recent 2-1 series victory against England, which was split into two radically different halves. Initially dominating and scoring goals quickly and easily, England battled greatly on more difficult fields in the closing stages.
England faced 356 overs and three balls in the course of the series. They played confidently, scoring 1,034 runs and taking just nine wickets in the first 191.2 overs. With a wicket falling just once every 21 overs, this led to an average of 115 runs per wicket and a run rate of 5.40 per over.
But England’s play drastically deteriorated in the final 165.1 overs. Averaging just 16 runs per wicket at a slower pace of 3.65 per over, they lost a wicket around every 26 balls and only achieved 603 runs while losing 38 wickets.
Even though the pitches in the second and third Tests were difficult, they weren’t particularly bad by Asian Test standards. The first innings totals in these matches were 657 and 611 runs, which was within a fair range but below the Asian average of 730.
Pakistan’s spinners benefited from lateral deviation on the surfaces, which made spin very successful in this series. Even though these pitches had a large spin deviation, they weren’t the most extreme, indicating that bowlers’ talent was equally important.
With spinners averaging 45.8 in Test matches, Pakistan is among the least spin-friendly nations, and its pitches have not been as favorable to spin as those of other Asian sites during the last 20 years. In Pakistan, spinners have performed somewhat better on average since 2019 (42.0).
Australia’s spinners averaged roughly 43.1 throughout comparable eras, whereas spinners in other Asian countries have historically averaged in the low 30s. Prior to the 2000s, Pakistan’s pitches, which averaged 33.4, provided more support for spinners than the rest of the area.
In Pakistan’s recent cricket history, this series stood out from the general pattern of spin being less successful on their pitches. England’s aggressive “Bazball” strategy, which had previously worked successfully for them, was upended by the new amount of spin issues they faced here.
Additionally, the turn of events brought to light some statistics that broke records. Having previously struggled against Sri Lanka at The Oval and during the Multan Tests, England’s second innings ended in less than 40 overs for the third time in four games.
In the past, England has hardly ever been dismissed in less than 40 overs. In the 1980s and 1990s, they only experienced three of these occurrences. They were not knocked out in less than 40 overs in 387 Test matches between 1921 and 1976.
Noman Ali and Sajid Khan, two spinners for Pakistan, achieved an unprecedented accomplishment of capturing 39 wickets between two Test matches. Jim Laker and Tony Lock of England, who combined for 38 wickets in two Test matches against Australia in 1956, were the final near analogy.
Sajid and Noman showed incredible flexibility. While Sajid accelerated his average speed and delivered a higher percentage of quicker balls to unsettle the English batters, Noman bowled more slowly than normal.
Sajid and Noman’s performance put them in the company of bowling greats who have performed well against England, like Rangana Herath, and modern-day greats like Muralitharan, Kumble, and Warne. Prior to them, Mehedi Hasan Miraz of Bangladesh had an equally outstanding series against England in 2016.
Noman, who had previously averaged high runs per wicket, and Sajid, who had only displayed glimpses of promise in previous Test matches, shocked everyone with their effectiveness in this series, underscoring cricket’s unpredictability.
In addition to this month’s odd cricketing patterns, October 2024 has witnessed some surprising “seven-fors.” Despite having low wicket-taking records prior to this month, Mitchell Santner of New Zealand and Washington Sundar of India both claimed seven wickets in addition to Sajid and Noman.
The cricket world is seeing a period of outstanding and surprising performances as this October is the first month in Test history where four different bowlers have each taken seven or more wickets in an innings.
