By Faraz Shaukat
October 14 2002

Time after Time, Pakistan is just not able to match any side at the mental game, Test cricket is all about mental toughness and Pakistan has never been able to achieve mental toughness or been able to apply it as a collective unit. My advice to the Pakistan board is to concentrate on this aspect of the game more then just talent hunting, only then will they be able to compete. Mathew Hayden batted for over 5 hours in 45-degree heat! How? Sheer determination and mental toughness, he wanted to keep the Pakistanis out there for as long as possible.

Okay, Shane Warne is a genius, there is no denying that, and our batsmen struggled to pick up what he bowls, but he has been playing cricket for 10 years! Everyone knows what he bowls, how many videos did these guys watch of his hand positions? He got all his wickets with the straighter bowl! But still these boys plant the front foot right in front of the stumps and just ask to be given LBW.

Anyway, looking into the future, things are still reasonably bright, this series is gone and a three-nill defeat is a certainty. Pakistan will not recover from this psychological blow and will most definitely score in the vicinity of 100 runs in the 3^rd test. However, we still did see some talent in this batting line up. Faisal Iqbal and Taufeeq Omar, I guess will be the future of Pakistan Cricket. Younis Khan has matured into a senior player, and Saqlain and Shoaib are both in wicket taking form again. With the return of Inzimam and Yousuf Youhanna, the middle order looks quite brilliant, on paper alteast!

Playing against Australia is unlike any other side in world cricket, they play tough unrelenting cricket, and if you are not strong mentally, you are bound to cave in. I would expect much better performances in the South African Tour.