Cricket legend Mark Taylor believes Pakistan failed to capitalise on a dominant position in the first Test.
The hosts won the toss and sent themselves in to bat on a Pindi Stadium pitch that looks flat and dry – a bowler’s nightmare.
Pakistan reached 4-476 before declaring. It leaves the Aussies in a tough position in the match, with a huge total ahead of them and only three days remaining.
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But Taylor says Pakistan didn’t do enough yesterday to build on a big day one total, and believes Australia can still win the match.
“I think the Pakistanis have been a little slow in scoring,” Taylor told Wide World of Sports.
“It’s great to win the toss, a big advantage, but to make 476 off 162 overs, it’s not terribly quick going.
“When you’re 1-245 overnight I would have thought an absolute minimum 300 runs on day two should have been their goal.
“If they end up not getting the victory they are after in this first Test, they will rue the way they batted, particularly on day two.
“When you’ve got nine wickets in the shed, I’d be thinking a minimum 300 runs on day two, minimum. I thought they went very slowly.
“Now Australia only have to make 280 to avoid the follow-on. If they bat well enough in their first innings and make 350-plus, they are going to find themselves in a situation where they should be able to at least save the game, if not potentially win it.
“They really haven’t got themselves into as strong of a position as they could have.”
It’s been suggested the Rawalpindi wicket will break up and offer more for the bowlers later in the match.
But Taylor isn’t convinced it will change much at all.
“It’s not surprising, the type of pitch they put out. It’s a little disappointing I think, because it looks like a bit of a road,” Taylor said.
“It would have been a good toss to win this one, for sure.
“I don’t think they tend to change as much as they used to. They are generally a little bit harder and they don’t tend to break up as much.
“But I think the Pakistan wrist spinners will be able to extract a bit more spin than, say, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith. There’s a little bit more vareity in that Pakistan attack.”
Australia was criticised for picking only one specialist spinner, Nathan Lyon, for this match.
They used eight bowlers on the first day, including part-time spinners Travis Head, Smith, and Labuschagne.
“Obviously hindsight is a wonderful thing. If you know you’re going to bowl first, you’ve really got to be thinking about your options,” Taylor said of Australia’s team selection.
“It’s not always easy to leave out one of your fast bowlers. But in Pakistan you need variety. You need people who can take you wickets on those very good batting decks.
“If you’re looking to make an aggressive decision, it would have been a better option to play (leggie Mitchell) Swepson than one of either Hazlewood or Starc.”