The England vs Pakistan Test series flagged off at Old Trafford, Manchester where England won a thrilling match by 3 wickets. It was an intriguing match from Day 1 itself and never seemed to be short of excitement. Pakistan made some bold decisions and played some world-class cricket from the first day of the Test match. But the famous quote of Nasser Hussain about Pakistan once again proved to be right– Pakistan cricket at its best, one minute down, next minute up!

The Pakistan side played brilliant cricket on the first two days at Old Trafford and were better than England in every aspect of the game. But a second innings debacle with the bat gave Joe Root and Co the chance to come back into the match and boy, they exactly did that!

After winning the toss, Pakistan decided to bat first and with the help of magnificent 156 by opener Shan Masood, they posted a challenging total of 326 on the board. The bowlers then showed why everyone was talking about them before the start of the series and bundled England out for just 219 runs.

The Pakistan team’s dominance lasted for two and a half days. After that, they were rattled by the English bowling line-up and by the end of the day found themselves struggling at 137 for 8. On Day 4, thanks to some wild yet vital batting by the lower-order Pakistan managed to reach 169 and set the target of 277 runs for the English batting line-up to chase.

England were down and out before tea when they were reduced for 117 for 5 in the afternoon session. But with the help of batting heroics from Jos Butler (75) and England’s No.7 Chris Woakes (84*), they dramatically turned things around.

The Pakistan side has plenty to ponder before the 2nd Test at Ageas Bowl, Southampton. Out of the many reasons for their dramatic defeat in the first Test, we have a look at three major reasons why the Azhar Ali-led side lost the encounter.

Here are three reasons:

3. No support to Yasir Shah

Yasir Shah was the best bowler for Pakistan in the match with figures of 8 for 166. He bowled his heart out to turn the match around for Pakistan in the second innings and picked up 4 wickets and bowled 30 overs. It was not only the second inning that we witnessed the brilliance of Yasir Shah, but also in the first innings, where he picked up 4 for 66 and bowled England out for just 219.

But Shah had no support from the other end, especially in the second innings. Pakistan picked two leg-spinners for the match with Shadab Khan being the other one. On a Day 4 pitch, there were dry patches and turn in the offer for the spinner but Shadab disappointed with his bowling. With Yasir Shah bowling brilliantly at one end, the Pakistan team needed a bowler who can at least curb the run flow.

When Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes were batting then there were too many loose balls and easy singles on offer. Finally, when Shah broke the partnership, there was no one to build pressure at the other end.

2. Inability to wrap up the lower middle-order quickly

Pakistan team reduced the English top-order to 62 for 4 in the first innings and 117 for 5 in the second innings. On both occasions, most of the damage was done by the lower-middle order and the tail of England. The Pakistan team did the hardest part of the game very efficiently, that is to get the top-order out cheaply.

But after that, their bowlers struggled to wrap up the innings quickly and as a result, they found themselves trailing by 1-0 in the three-match series. In England’s first innings the last six batsmen added 157 runs while in the second innings they managed to score 160 runs after the loss of Ollie Pope’s wicket to win the match.

Chris Woakes walked into bat in the second innings with chest guard on expecting some short deliveries, which is his weakness. But Pakistan bowlers didn’t bowl a single bouncer to him early on and allowed him to settle in.

1. The second innings batting collapse

The major reason for Pakistan’s defeat in the first match of the three-Test series is their batting debacle in the second innings. After batting beautifully in the first innings, it was expected that the Pakistan batsmen will put on a good score on the board but they disappointed everyone. Particularly the top-order batting force which was expected to deliver on a tricky pitch of Old Trafford.

The centurion of the first innings, Shan Masood went for a duck in the second inning and their stalwarts– Azhar Ali and Babar Azam–both failed to last long on the pitch. The most disappointing thing about their second innings batting was that their batsmen were getting the small starts initially but were not able to capitalize on it.

Pakistan will have a lot to think about their batting department ahead of the third Test match. In the first innings too, it was the partnership of Masood and Babar that helped them reach 326. None of the other batsmen clicked in the first innings.

~ Written by Vaskar Gautam