Why is Pakistan losing Tests at home? Explaining in 5 points

Pakistan's dismal run of form continued as they reached rock bottom with an embarrassing 0-2 home Test series defeat against Bangladesh. After an unfathomably bad 2024 T20 World Cup and a horrific Trans-Tasmanian tour earlier in the year, the home Tests starting with the Bangladesh series felt like the reset button.

Instead, Pakistan sunk to an all-time low by losing their first-ever Test against Bangladesh in the series opener and followed that with another defeat in the second Test that concluded today (September 3). While other losses in any of the three formats happen occasionally in a long team history, dominating in home Tests has become a staple among most top teams.

Yet, Pakistan have not won a single Test match at home since the South Africa series at the start of 2021. They have hosted 10 Tests since and have lost six with the other four being draws.

What has Pakistan done wrong in this phase of horrific home performances in the red-ball format? Or should the question be - What haven't Pakistan done wrong in this phase to endure such poor home Test results?

On that note, let's examine five key factors behind Pakistan's winless streak in Tests at home.

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#1 Lack of home Tests resulting in Pakistan's identity crisis

Before we walk down Pakistan's misery lane in home Tests, here's something worth pondering: What is the Test side's identity at home?

For context, if we do the same for India - The Mantra in home Tests is to pile on the runs in the first innings and allow the spinners to dismantle the opposition in the final two days.

For Australia - Bat first, bat aggressively in the first innings, and run through the opposition with world-class pacers on bouncy tracks.

Yet, for Pakistan, it is near-impossible to come up with any such pattern, stemming from the side's lack of consistently playing Tests at home. After their 2-0 series win in South Africa to start 2021, Pakistan next played a home Test only in March 2022 - a 13-month gap.

They had to wait another nine months before back-to-back home Test series against England and New Zealand. Just as there were signs of some progress during the 0-0 drawn series against the latter, Pakistan were without home Tests for almost another 20 months before the just-concluded Bangladesh series.

With such massive gaps between home Tests because of scheduling issues or opposition teams not touring for external reasons, building continuity, momentum, cohesion, brand, and a well-sketched pattern or identity for sustained success even at home becomes more like a pie-in-the-sky pursuit.

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#2 Unpredictable pitches leading to selection errors

The first point lends itself to the second - the lesser of anything, the more unpredictable they become as connections are hard to make. With Test matches at home few and far between, the pitches have been constantly different even at the same venues.

Due to playing home Tests without any yearly fixed schedule, seasonal changes lead to varying pitches. This has made it extremely challenging for Pakistan to predict their own conditions, resulting in selection blunders.

A case in point was seen recently when they went with an all-out pace attack and no specialist spinners in the first Test in Rawalpindi in expectation of a seaming wicket. The misreading of the track became apparent when the Bangladesh spinners seven of the ten Pakistan wickets in the second innings to set up their victory.

There have also been other instances in this barren run where the spinners have received no assistance from the pitches. Such unpredictability of pitches has led to Pakistan often slipping on the selection of their bowling attack during this stretch.

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#3 No World-class spinner - A prerequisite to dominate in Asian conditions

Remember the glory days of Saqlain Mushtaq, Saeed Ajmal, and even Yasir Shah? Now cut to the present and think about a standout spinner from the Pakistan Test side that is a sure starter in the playing XI like Nathan Lyon for Australia or one of Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja for India.

There has been a merry-go-round between Abrar Ahmed, Sajid Khan, and Noman Ali as far as spinners are concerned for Pakistan since they moved on from Yasir Shah in the middle of 2022.

While Sajid and Abrar have showcased the occasional brilliance, their overall bowling averages of 38.16 and 33.30 aren't impressive enough to consistently win Test matches.

Noman Ali at 37 may have seen his last days for Pakistan after playing 15 Tests between 2021 and 2023 with a mediocre bowling average of over 33.

Winning Tests in Asian conditions often comes down to the spinners and Pakistan's lack of trustable options in the spin department has been a detriment in this nightmarish run at home.

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#4 Unimaginative captaincy and lack of killer instinct

Pakistan can rightly look back on these last ten home Tests and feel they should have avoided three to four of their six losses. Yet, why did they not flip the script in their direction from dominant positions?

And the answer to that could be a case of unimaginative captaincy at crucial moments or the lack of a killer instinct when on top - a trait former Pakistan sides had in abundance.

Going back to when this debacle started in the final Test of the 2022 home series against Australia, Pakistan had the visitors 6/2 and 206/5 before conceding a match-winning total of 391.

The 0-3 whitewash against England were all in the balance after the first innings before the English seized the momentum with their Bazball approach as Pakistan watched them win all three Tests.

Even in the Bangladesh series that just finished, Pakistan prematurely declared their first innings on 448/6 and the move eventually bit them hard. They again had Bangladesh on the ropes in the second Test at 26/6 in the first innings but allowed them to post 262 and cut the deficit to a mere 12 runs.

The moves were either too cocky or overly conservative in several of these losses when the Tests were on level terms and there for Pakistan's taking.

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#5 Batting woes in the second innings

A batting lineup truly gets revealed or exposed in Asian conditions by their performances in the second innings of a Test match when the pitch starts to play tricks and the match situation is tense. Unfortunately, their woes with the willow in the second innings have been a common feature in this 10-Test home stretch.

In their six home losses during this time, Pakistan's second innings totals are 235, 268, 328, 216, 146, and 172. An average second innings score of 227.50 makes for a sorry reading and has been the primary reason behind their disastrous run.

A longish tail and the inability of top-order batters to play themselves in or for well-set batters to make it big has meant Pakistan have crossed 300 only once in the second innings of their last six home Test losses.

Pakistan batters' lack of adequate technique to deal with opposition spinners when pitches start turning in the second innings also raises question marks about the quality of their domestic system.