Where have all the Pakistan speedsters gone?

From Fazal Mahmood back in the 1950s to Naseem Shah in the 2020s, Pakistani cricket has long been a hotbed for both genuinely quick bowlers and especially skilful seamers in the mould of Mohammad Asif. This is evident in the Pakistan Super League, too. It feels like each edition of the PSL unearths a new Pakistani speedster capable of regularly hitting and surpassing 90 miles per hour, Shahnawaz Dahani one year, Ihsanullah another; there is a seemingly never-ending pool of raw but rapid fast bowlers which makes Pakistan’s one-paced batch of seamers selected for their upcoming tour of Australia all the more jarring.

Shaheen Shah Afridi aside, Pakistan have picked a startlingly inexperienced and unproven batch of seamers. Hassan Ali has the most Test cricket behind him of the rest but has been in and out of the set-up in recent times, playing just one Test in the past 16 months. Elsewhere, new selector Wahab Riaz has picked Mir Hamza and Mohammad Wasim – who have four wickets at 123.75 between them in Test cricket – as well as the uncapped duo of Aamer Jamal and Khurram Shahzad, who both average either just either side of 30 with the ball in first-class cricket. Against a formidable Australia side on home soil, they will be lambs to the slaughter.

So, how did they end up in this position? Injuries have played a part in their predicament. Naseem sensationally debuted as a 16-year-old on Pakistan’s previous tour of Australia but won’t be on Shan Masood’s first trip as captain with the same shoulder injury that ruled him out of the World Cup proving to be a hindrance once more. Ihsanullah, meanwhile, the sort of fast bowler Pakistan tend to promote quickly, hasn’t played a game in any format since April due to injury. Then there was the drama around Haris Rauf’s exclusion. Wahab, effectively on the first day in his new role, publicly criticised Rauf’s decision not to tour with a version of events that Rauf reportedly disputes.

Mohammad Abbas – a very different type of bowler to the likes of Naseem and Rauf – is another high profile absentee. The 33-year-old hasn’t played a Test in over two years despite averaging 23.02 in the format, and a change in selection regime hasn’t resulted in a change of selection philosophy. Abbas, once again, was one of the standout bowlers in this year’s County Championship in England, taking 53 wickets at 20.05 in Division One with Hampshire. Yet, in announcing the squad, Wahab suggested that conditions disproportionately favour Abbas in England. Commenting on Abbas’ omission, Wahab said: “Mohammad Abbas hasn’t played the first-class season here. The conditions in which Abbas is playing four-day cricket involve a lot of seam movement. So, for Australia, we need someone who can reverse the ball.”

While it is fair to say that conditions in Australia are unlikely to play to Abbas’ traditional strengths, bowlers of his ilk – Vernon Philander, for example – have thrived in Australia in the recent past. And given the paucity of proven alternatives, it is a bold call to leave out a bowler with such a formidable Test record.

There will be hope that Shahzad, whose action has been likened to Dale Steyn’s, will make an immediate impact, but recent selections off Quaid-e-Azam Trophy form – such as Mohammad Ali’s chastening experience against England last year – haven’t gone well.

Pakistan have a truly miserable recent record in Australia. They have lost their last 14 Tests on Australian soil with their last win there coming all the way back in 1995. In their most recent tour in 2019/20, they lost both Tests by an innings, conceding 1,169 runs and taking only 13 wickets across the series. On that occasion, Shaheen was the only Pakistan seamer to take more than one wicket across the tour as David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne scored more than 800 runs between them. Given the pace department they’re taking to Australia this time around, you wouldn’t discount the Pakistan seamers having a similarly challenging experience once again.