Pakistan take the conservative route, again

Pakistan, since being 7 for 2 in the first Test in Dubai, have exuded complete control over Australia in this series. This is arguably the strongest domination shown by Pakistan in the last 26 years. They even got themselves comfortably into a position to enforce the follow-on, with a lead of 309, but chose not to.

With two days left to play, the move is unlikely to offer Australia a chance to regain control or even save the game, but enforcing the follow-on could have allowed Pakistan to crush them in a more authoritative manner.

This was the first time under Misbah-ul-Haq that Pakistan had the option of enforcing the follow-on, but the captain is likely to have taken the fitness levels of his bowlers into consideration when deciding against it. Despite only bowling 62 overs on the day, they were seen to be exhausted. Imran Khan bowled 11 overs on the day, Rahat Ali 9, Yasir Shah 14, and Zulfiqar Babar 24.4 overs in approximately in two sessions, as Australia were bowled out for 261. That, along with Pakistan's insecurity over batting second and chasing a target, probably prompted Misbah's conservativeness.

None of the Pakistan players showed up for the post-day press conference either, as the media was informed that players were, yes, 'tired'. It was batting coach Grant Flower who showed up, and he said Pakistan preferred to hand Australia an unattainable target and to give their bowlers a rest.

"I wasn't part of the actual decision, but I think they just wanted our bowlers to come back and get a breather," Flower said, while also hinted that he will be surprised if Pakistan kept batting after lunch on day four.

When asked if the decision reflected a conservative mindset, he said: "I don't think so, as a lot of cricket still is to be played. We are actually trying to get it to the stage where there is only on winner, especially when you are already one up in the series. So this is the only thinking, we have to get them out of the game and set them something they can't chase."

Flower is a happy man with Pakistan's often brittle batting line-up standing up and performing consistently in this series. It had not been the case against Sri Lanka, in their previous series, as two solid first-innings scores were followed up with unsubstantial second-innings totals.

"In Sri Lanka, we weren't reading [Rangana] Herath and didn't know which ones were spinning and which were not, probably a bit like Zulfiqar [Babar] with Australians," Flower said. "If you aren't sure which way the ball is going, it makes it really tough. But the guys have learnt form that and become better for it."