I have not seen Pakistan defeating Australia even when they had world class bowlers like Akram, Akthar and Waqar Younis because their batsman always fails them, i am not sure about the win percentage they have in Australia but i am sure it is pretty low, the present team is much younger and there is no way they will trouble the Australian batsman and their bowling is lethal to any top teams and Pakistan will find it difficult to face them.

Pakistan in Australia Test Match   1964/65      drawn   0-0 (1)
Pakistan in Australia Test Series   1972/73      Australia   3-0 (3)
Pakistan in Australia Test Series   1976/77      drawn   1-1 (3)
Pakistan in Australia Test Series   1978/79      drawn   1-1 (2)
Pakistan in Australia Test Series   1981/82      Australia   2-1 (3)
Pakistan in Australia Test Series   1983/84      Australia   2-0 (5)
Pakistan in Australia Test Series   1989/90      Australia   1-0 (3)
Pakistan in Australia Test Series   1995/96      Australia   2-1 (3)
Pakistan in Australia Test Series   1999/00      Australia   3-0 (3)
Pakistan in Australia Test Series   2004/05      Australia   3-0 (3)
Pakistan in Australia Test Series   2009/10      Australia   3-0 (3)
Pakistan in Australia Test Series   2016/17      Australia   3-0 (3)

Currently Pakistan 13th time in Australia they already lost 9 time and draw 3 mean they never won any series in Australia.

Here in Pakistan we have no system and no good domestic set up which is hurting too much not only in cricket even in all sports too many talented players going overseas and doing good jobs because they feel they have no good future and right now in India they are doing too many good decsions for domestic set up which are paying good divedend specially just because of IPL now they have very stronge cricket team which can beat any team in any place its need some good effort and long term plaining which is not available in Pakistan.

Also he used to perform consistently on every ground. It can be of home ground or it can be away from the country. Whenever necessary, most of the time he takes responsibility and does what is necessary by that time. We can't say it is just a man's effort, because rest too played but he played well which is the difference.

Broadcasters were the one to profit big out the matches. When a day gets reduced out of the match due to early winning it surely affects the revenue. This can't be undone, because game gets changed at any point. If things are supposed to happen as the broadcasters think then the only way is match fixing.

Very difficult to believe that this is the same guy who struggled so hard during the Ashes series. David Warner made a total of 95 runs after playing 5 tests during the Ashes 2019 series. For comparison, Steve Smith played just 4 matches, and scored a total of 774 runs (he could have made 1,000 runs if he got the opportunity to play all the five matches).

I still believe that it was a very stupid move from Cricket Australia to hand out 12 month ban for these two players. What they did was not right, but in my opinion their offense was not as worse as match fixing. In their case, the incident was blown out of proportion by the South African media (and picked up by their Australian counterparts). It is something that everyone does, and they were unfortunate to get caught.

My guess is that the majority of the test bowlers try to change the condition of the ball, either using external substances (such as sandpaper or Vaseline), or by using their own sweat and towel. Pakistani bowlers were infamous for their "reverse swing", which was helped by increasing the weight of one side of the ball by applying sweat (after removing the smoothness by using a towel).

And it irritated me when the uncultured crowd in England booed these two players whenever they walked in to bat. And even more irritating was the fact that the English players themselves encouraged that sort of crowd behavior. I don't think that they can label anyone as "cheaters" after what they did during the final of the 2019 CWC.

^^^^ I am having mixed feelings about this. If they knowingly tampered the ball, then they deserved some punishment for that (still not sure about the quantum of the punishment). But it is a well known fact that a lot of bowlers do engage in these sort of activities. A lot of them try to change the original condition of the ball. Some of them can be called out as illegal, while some other types may be in the grey area.

That said, it is difficult to digest the fact that two batsmen got suspended for ball tampering. Do you believe that their bowlers are all angels and this plan was only known to Warner and Smith?

He has a point there. It is difficult to believe that none of the bowlers were aware of the plan. How can Warner came up with this plan, when he is not a bowler himself? Steve Smith being the captain can't escape from the responsibility as well. But there is always a thin line separating what is allowed and what is not allowed. As I had mentioned earlier, the legendary Pakistani bowlers have themselves admitted changing the condition of the ball, in order to get reverse swing. And this is something bowlers all around the world does even now.

All this conversation begs the question why was the "2 new balls" rule introduced? Cricket has become a game for batsmen only, Talk about Pitches to Bats, All have been tailored to suit them. For the bowlers nothing much has changed, in fact, it has got worse for them. Things like Powerplays and "2 New balls" are not helping them in any case. The art of reverse swing is close to dead even in test matches. It's a game of nightmare for bowlers these days unless you are an orthodox bowler then you may survive for a bit but your uniqueness will fade away too, Rashid Khan comes to mind as an example. It's just frustrating for fans like me to see the game develop only in a certain way. Anyway, I will end my rant...


You are confusing illegal manipulation with the natural one. Making one side rough by pitching it on the same side isn't illegal. But if you will use sandpapers to rough it that's another story.

Normally the pace bowlers use their towel (or even their trousers) to scratch the ball on one side and then apply their sweat to make that side heavier. This is an open secret and till now no bowler was penalized for doing this. The question is if using the towel is perfectly legal, then how we can say that using sand-paper is illegal? As far as I know, there is no rule which specifically states so.