Saim Ayub’s hectic week from the Caribbean to Birmingham has made headlines, and Pakistan’s batting nightmare in England has reached a new low. Ayub left Edgbaston with two ducks in two innings and a good deal of criticism from former England captain Nasser Hussain after being drafted into a hurriedly rearranged squad and thrown straight into the top order.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Hussain said, “I don’t know who thinks it’s the right thing to fly someone over from foreign conditions, playing a completely different format, and think they’re going to be fine in these conditions against a Duke’s ball, against Ollie Robinson and England’s bowling attack. It’s just a sort of disrespect and disregard for test match cricket. Test match cricket, as any cricketer will tell you, is the toughest format.”
On day two, Joe Root’s team, which was already leading the series 2-0, increased the pressure by being bowled out for 453, securing a 320-run lead in the first innings. With that kind of buffer against a team that was already shaken, England was suddenly looking for a speedy finish instead of a grind. In just 13 sessions this series, Ollie Robinson was sent off the first ball four times. This specific dismissal was part of a double-wicket maiden that left Pakistan facing an almost insurmountable deficit.
Hussain mentioned that Virender Sehwag had been flown in to play at Edgbaston in 2011 and had also scored two goals, drawing a similarity to an earlier incident at the same location. He used that example to highlight how impossible it is to expect any batsman in England, regardless of skill or experience, to play at the top of the order without sufficient preparation.
Hussain added, “Batting at the top of the order in England is the toughest task, and you just feel you can fly someone in from some part of the world and go, good luck. Virender Sehwag tried it on this ground, if you remember. I don’t know if you were playing in that game. They flew in Virender Sehwag, Varinder Sehwag got a pair, and that’s Virender Sehwag who’s a better, more experienced player than Saim Ayub. So a bit of responsibility goes for the lad for the shot he played, but also whoever thought that that was a seriously good decision and that he was going to go okay this week.”
Ayub’s lack of preparation time before being asked to open the batting under English conditions was the main focus of Hussain’s criticism. Before being airlifted to England, Ayub was playing Twenty20 cricket in the Caribbean. He had little chance to get used to the Dukes ball or the demands of Test cricket under these circumstances. In the first innings, Ayub was dismissed leg before wicket (LBW) after 10 balls, and in the second innings, he was bowled with one to second slip on the first delivery.
