How Azhar Ali can get past his technical hitch

WAQAS ZAFAR: A lot has been discussed of his issue with the straighter balls, which was his problem on the tours of England in 2016 and 2018

The challenges for Pakistan Test captain Azhar Ali are building up as he has been searching for a golden run of fortune over the last couple of years. In 2018 and 2019, his batting averages have been a mediocre 30.41 and 21.72 respectively.

Add that lack of runs in his arsenal with Pakistan’s loss to England in the first Test and you’ll see that things aren’t quite going his way. Pakistan had bossed England over the first two days after posting a decent first innings total and their bowlers had done the job of knocking England out for a paltry 219 in first innings.

But in the second innings – as feared – their batting line-up collapsed, which allowed the hosts to crawl back in the contest. The pitch at Old Trafford, as expected, was getting tough to bat on, like we saw in the dismissals of Ben Stokes and Ollie Pope.

But the game was taken away by Jos Buttler and Chris Woakes, who added a quickfire partnership to expose the inexperience in their captain and his pace bowlers.

With all of the points being made, where are things headed for the Pakistan Test captain, especially with his batting? A lot has been discussed of his issue with the straighter balls, which was his problem on the tours of England in 2016 and 2018. In 2016, he did score a hundred in the third Test after failures in the first two games by making a few alterations. One of them was employing an open stance to prevent himself from tipping over to the off-side.

In 2018, he was again found wanting against the straighter balls as the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad zoned in on his front pad on a consistent basis. Following that tour of England, Azhar had admitted that he was getting stuck on the crease and ‘couldn’t drag his [left] foot back’ to create room for his bat path to come through and strike the ball.

“I was getting stuck on the crease... My left foot was getting forward and not dragging back in for the balls that were aimed at the stumps,” he said in an interview with Cricingif after the England tour in 2018.

“That meant I had to come across the ball rather than through it. Sometimes, my back lift used to get shorter which meant that I was pushing out in front of myself.”

Fast forward to the tours of Australia and New Zealand in 2018 in the UAE, he had a decent time in the New Zealand series, with two half-centuries and one century to his name. On the tour of South Africa in 2018-19, Duanne Olivier troubled him alongside most Pakistan batsmen with his shorter length and unusual bounce.

After being appointed the Test captain last year, he was again in the spotlight for not scoring big runs on a tough tour of Australia. Again, by looking at his dismissals, he was getting a bit stuck on the crease, which meant his hands were out in front searching for the ball. And when that happens, all of the sequencing goes wrong and you are basically asking for trouble.

^{Above - Azhar Ali stuck on the crease; below - Azhar cutting across the line of the ball}

Following a tough tour of Australia, Azhar himself identified a glitch which kept him in trouble against the likes of Starc, Cummins and Hazlewood. When asked if he was getting pinned on the crease, the Pakistan captain said he was ‘cutting across the line of the ball’ – like a windscreen wiper – which left him vulnerable to any sort of sideways movement.

“I don’t think you press forward a lot in Australia as you tend to stand a bit upright at the crease. One of the things I would say is that my bat face was closing early,” he said in a chat with Cricingif.

However, after a poor show in Australia, he scored a hundred in the final of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s premier first-class tournament. And when Test cricket finally returned to Pakistan with the Sri Lanka tour, he scored a hundred after quite a long gap. His movements at the crease had started looking better.

Now, coming back to the first Test against England at the Old Trafford, the old demons of getting pinned in front of the stumps returned. In the first innings, Azhar misjudged the line completely by taking a massive stride against a ball threatening his stumps. The review on a rather straightforward decision possibly highlighted his desperation.

A stat from CricViz during Pakistan’s second innings highlighted that from the start of 2017, Azhar was averaging only 12.8 on balls just on a length outside off. To add more perspective to this, an average top-order right handed batsman averaged 20 against those balls during this period.

England seamers had taken notes by sticking in that zone outside off, but they shifted their plans by throwing in a sucker punch – a straighter ball – to add further misery. Following a leg-before decision in the first innings, Azhar made slight tweaks in his set-up to counteract that in the second innings but still got pinned in front by Woakes.

^{Tweaks made by Azhar Ali in time for the second innings didn't help... he was still trapped in front}

On the right hand side in the above image, he opened up his shoulders to probably watch the ball from both eyes rather than anticipating for the ball from his right eye, and then falling over to the off-side.

Now, if you watch how sets up at the crease, he has a double press with his feet in his trigger - i.e. right and left foot tap which leaves his stance quite wide at the point of release. Add another final step towards the ball [for a front foot shot] and that widens up the base a bit more.

To get back at the ball, he has to be extremely sharp in getting his foot back and out of the way for his bat to come through for leg-side play.

While a lot of people might argue over the fact that his head went over to the off-side, if you see the replay, you will notice that his front pad got in the way of his downswing. If he had been quick enough to get his foot out of the way, he might have been able to get some bat on it.

What makes things difficult for him is that he tried to ‘adapt’ in the second innings but it didn’t work. This adds a stern mental examination for him as he has to put all the demons in past and try and focus on the ball when he comes out to bat in the second Test. The interesting part is that Pakistan’s batting consultant for England tour Younis Khan, known as an ‘unorthodox player’ as per the manual, would often ‘fall across his stumps’.

In one of his expert appearances for a show during the England tour in 2018, Younis, when asked about Azhar’s problems of ‘falling over’ at the crease, said the batsman could add a ‘third movement’ with his back foot to regain balance at the crease.

What he meant by saying that is when you do the double press like Azhar Ali [back foot first and front foot afterwards], sometimes your head starts tipping over which means that once you move from that position, your front foot will land across your back foot and the bat will have to come around your body to access the straighter balls.

^{Younis Khan added 'a third movement' to stop him from falling over himself}

When you add a third movement (like Younis is doing in fourth image above), the alignment can be bettered as your back shoulder and hip can help in improving the bat path by coming straighter at the ball rather than around it.

Now, with roles for Younis being switched, it would be interesting to know if he would put up the same suggestion to Azhar in person.

Even if Younis does, it would be entirely up to Azhar whether he should try out this strategy or not. But what Pakistan desperately need is their most senior batsman to fire if they want to make a comeback in this series.

Otherwise, it will only add more voices as to whether he should stay on as the captain of Pakistan’s Test side or not.

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