What will it take for Pakistan to beat Australia in Test Cricket?

When you take a look at Australia’s performances in Test Cricket, there is little denying that the team is up there with the best. Whenever faced on home ground, Australia seems to come out on top. With Sportsbet cricket live odds, fans of the team need to see something significant happen before they’ll move their money across and bet on the opposition.

Pakistan is perhaps one of those teams that you’d expect to fair well against Australia. The problem is that expectation just doesn’t seem to materialise into victory. The latest Test Series saw Pakistan being narrowly defeated (with one victory to Australia followed by two draws), but history shows Pakistan taking a hammering from the Australians time and time again. What needs to change to bring this losing streak to an end?

The Australian problem

The issue isn’t simply that Pakistan has been beaten by Australia. The real issue is how many times that has happened in a row. The total is well into double figures now and Australia is proving to be a real Achilles heel for Pakistan.

It’s not to say that Pakistan plays particularly bad cricket when they face Australia. If you look at how Pakistan typically plays there is a solid batting performance that is then followed up by outstanding bowling. The problem when playing away to Australia is that the Australians have different ideas and refuse to allow Pakistan to play its usual game. 

Pakistani bowling

Pakistan is a team that has some pretty impressive bowlers. You don’t have to look too far back to see how these players have been the ones that have spurred the team to victory. Think about the recent performance against New Zealand. Here, they bowled the opposition out for a measly 110. Then there was the Test against South Africa where the team were out for 124. And, who can forget the victory over England when the team fell for 184?

Things just don’t seem to pan out when they face Australia. In the past 20 years, the team has failed to bowl out Australia for less than 350 (apart from this most recent Test). When you allow Australia to rack up runs at such a rate victory will always be unlikely.

Getting it right

Pakistan is one of the teams that has a high batting average. The issue is, yet again, that this just doesn’t seem to count for much when facing Australia. While the batting performances are not poor, the problem is that batting alone won’t defeat Australia. By the time that Australia has hit 350, Pakistan is forever playing catch up.

What needs to happen for Pakistan to be victorious is to get the bowling right. There is an inability to out bat the Australians and so there needs to be more of a focus on the bowling aspect of the game. Until the bowling is right, Pakistan will continue to suffer at the hands of Australia in Test Cricket.