It overshadowed all the other selection decisions for this Test. Pakistan were expected to make wholesale changes at any rate given Shan Masood’s finger injury and a combination in the first Test that didn’t quite work. But at no point did the inclusion of Abbas, Pakistan’s most prolific bowler in the first Test and most consistent seam bowler over the last year, ever appear in doubt. He took eight wickets in the first Test, including his seventh Test five-wicket haul.
Babar dispelled the notion Abbas may have been carrying a niggle, confirming to Ian Bishop at the toss that it was “down to conditions” that Pakistan had decided to bench Abbas. It appeared to imply that the slowness of the wicket was a factor in dropping Abbas, especially since the visitors went with two spinners, adding Sajid Khan into the XI. Abbas operates in the mid 120s for the most part, and the team would perhaps have felt a slower wicket would further dull his threat.
They handed a debut to the quick Ubaid Shah instead, and played just one more fast bowler in Mohammad Ali. However, Ali is not exactly express either, with the low 130s his ceiling for the most part. In a straight shootout between Abbas and Ali, there appeared one obvious winner given Abbas’ accuracy with line and length and consistency over an extended period of time. Since December 2024, when he was brought back into the team, Abbas has been Pakistan’s highest pace bowling wicket-taker, with 28 in 5 Tests at an average of 20.32. He has done so at an economy rate of 2.86, nearly a full run under Ali’s 3.63.
Abbas, meanwhile, has demonstrated in the past that slow wickets have not impeded his wicket-taking. In six Tests in the UAE, he has taken 27 wickets at an average of 17.55, his best average for any nation where he has played more than one Test. In Pakistan’s recent series in Bangladesh, he was their highest wickettaker with 10 at 23.80. His career Test bowling average of 22.38 is the best for any Pakistan bowler, narrowly shading Imran Khan into second, who took his 362 wickets at 22.81.
Pakistan’s next Test tour is a three-match series in England, with Abbas having established himself as a County Championship stalwart over the past few seasons with Nottingham and Hampshire, taking 171 wickets at 20.49.
