Ahead of the three-Test series between Pakistan and England, The Cricketer looks ahead at some of the duels to watch out for
Australia's Test tour of Pakistan identified the necessity for top-order runs, so it is apt we start with opposing openers.
Imam-ul-Haq enjoyed a coming-of-age home series against Australia earlier this year, scoring his first Test hundreds when he hit twin centuries in the opening game of the series.
Zak Crawley, on the other hand, endured a self-proclaimed "worst summer" of his career, averaging just 23 in Test cricket and may be deemed lucky to have clung onto his place. Albeit in different conditions, Pakistan have been favourable opposition for Crawley though; his 267 against them in 2020 remains central to the talk of his potential.
He has warmed up for this series in style, though: he was run out for 96 against England Lions last week, an innings of authority and fluency that ought to set him up well.
Crawley will have a new partner at the top; in all likelihood, that man will be Ben Duckett, more of a middle-order man these days but expected to get the nod over Keaton Jennings for a Test recall after a fine run in county cricket with Nottinghamshire. Both Duckett and Jennings are left-handers and fine players of spin.
Babar Azam and Joe Root are two of the finest batters in the world. Once upon a time, Nasser Hussain campaigned to add Babar Azam to the 'fab four' of Root, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith and Virat Kohli. Another former England captain, Michael Vaughan, even claimed at one stage that he should replace Root.
Since then, Root has enjoyed a fabulous spell; he has 11 hundreds since the start of 2021. His blistering form without the burden of captaincy means he will once again be vital to England's batting in this series.
Babar has done no harm to suggestions he is part of that quintet, however, having averaged 73.44 in Test cricket this year with two centuries in five matches. He will see this as another opportunity to propel himself further into that conversation. In Tests in Pakistan, he averages 83.36 through 13 innings.
Root, such a fine player of spin, averages 52.42 in Asia and only last year dominated in Sri Lanka and at the start of the ultimately disappointing series defeat by India.
Naseem Shah bowled brilliantly in the T20 World Cup final (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
The manner in which Ben Stokes' side played their Test cricket this summer has been extensively discussed. In this series, it faces its first overseas challenge. A style of cricket designed around bowling first in order to chase would be perceived as a risk in Pakistan, where the pitches are incredibly flat and might hand Pakistan the chance to make huge first innings runs, before deteriorating late on.
Vital to the new style is taking the most positive option and England's selection did just that in several ways. Will Jacks and Liam Livingstone seem to be competing for one spot as the extra batter who can also provide a spin option. They both highlighted their destructiveness with the bat against the Lions this week, with Will Jacks especially brutal on his way to 84 off 48 balls.
Subcontinent tours of the past have been gruelling for England with long days in the field and collapses with the bat, so it will be interesting to what extent this entertaining brand of cricket will translate to Pakistani conditions on this historic tour as England return to play a Test series for the first time since 2005.
Pakistan have had a knack of producing genuinely quick bowlers who offer a point of difference on docile Pakistani surfaces. They have another in 19-year-old Naseem Shah who showed England in the World Cup final, when bowling possibly the greatest wicketless spell in T20I history, just how good he is.
In the absence of talisman Shaheen Shah Afridi, he will lead this attack and look to use his pace to unsettle the England batters.
Mark Wood looks set to miss the first game but hopes to be fit later in the series. He is England's fastest bowler ever and showed during England's T20 tour of Pakistan that he can unnerve Babar on batter-friendly pitches. When he does return, he will be playing Test cricket for the first time since March, when he faced West Indies.
Zak Crawley made 267 against Pakistan two summers ago (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Both sides have sprung a surprise with their choice of spinners. For England, Liam Livingstone and Will Jacks were both considered left-field options alongside Jack Leach, but the late addition of Rehan Ahmed is a genuine gamble.
The 18-year-old Leicestershire allrounder has only ever played three first-class matches and was given his senior call-up on the day that he bowled eight expensive wicketless overs for England Lions. But Rob Key and Brendon McCullum like what they see. It feels unlikely that he'll make his debut in Pakistan, but his presence with Stokes' squad suggests that he has usurped Matt Parkinson, Dom Bess and Mason Crane in the pecking order.
For Pakistan, Abrar Ahmed is the nname to watch out for. The bespectacled leggie has 43 wickets in six Quaid-e-Azam Trophy matches this season for Sindh. Sajid Khan, the off-spinner who spent some of last summer at Somerset, has been left out.
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