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Pakistan batted so differently in the two innings at Napier that it might have been a different team second time around. It was almost a different wicket, without any of the troubling pace and bounce of the first day, a Pakistani wicket in fact. Indeed, the blind panic that inflicted Pakistan's batsmen on the opening day has been banished by a determined effort that helped reconnect them with the disciplines of Test cricket.

Where Imran Farhat and co flashed and thrashed, they now defended and left well alone. If anything, Pakistan have been too cautious in their second innings to put themselves in a strong position to win this match. The new risk reduction method was applied with almost tyrannical zeal by Mohammad Yousuf as he repeatedly gave Umar Akmal "the eyes" whenever the new champion became overambitious.

Continue reading "Ridiculous to the sublime"