Reverse swing no longer beats Indians: Sarfraz

To support his view, Nawaz pointed out that with injuries to Shabbir and Razzaq, the bowling has gone off-kilter because newcomer Fazl-E-Akbar has not quite slipped into his role. ‘‘When all were fit, you knew Shabbir and Shoaib would attack, then would be followed by Sami and Razzaq. Now that is not the case Fazl is not that experienced and just could not step up. That is why I believe Umar Gul if he had been fit would have been very useful on this track.’’

That apart, Nawaz believes that on the Pindi Cricket Stadium track, the Pakistan bowlers ought to have lived upto their reputation but just could not maintain a disciplined line. The first hour weas crucial to exploit the moisture, if any, in the wicket but the Pakistanis just sprayed the ball.

‘‘Only Shoaib bowled well, but he was very unlucky. Also I believe the Indian batting handled him very well. Jyaada kheloge toh practice ho jata hai na.’’

The other Pakistan bowlers, he said, were bowling too wide and just could not swing the ball. ‘‘They didn’t use the crease very well. By this I mean trying to go wide and close to the stumps and changing the angle a bit. They always tried to do just one thing bowling extra fast instead of trying to hit the deck like the Indian seamers did.’’

The Pakistan bowlers were also handicapped by the fact that the Indians were now proficient enough to play even reverse swing. ‘‘Who says there has been no reverse swing in this series? It did happen in Multan, give credit to the Indian batsmen for countering it very well. They have just been too good in handling such deliveries. Earlier the Indians could not face upto Wasim and Waqar, but then they also did not have this high-quality batting line-up.’’