Michael Vaughan Blasts Pakistan With 2nd Division Team Comparison

Babar Azam and Michael Vaughan [Source: AFP]

The Pakistan cricket team haven't been at their very best with the bat in the second Test against England at Lord's. The match, which started on August 27, saw the Babar Azam-led unit collapse for just 110 runs after England had established a massive lead of 290 runs.

Michael Vaughan, one of England's greats and currently part of the BBC Sport team, slammed Pakistan's batting lineup and overall performance in a podcast, comparing them to a second-division county cricket team. 

While analysing their lack of batting depth and technical deficiencies, Vaughan dissected how low the standards have been for Pakistan, especially at Lord's.

Michael Vaughan slams batting standards of Pakistan

Vaughan was brutally honest when he spoke about Pakistan's batting lineup at Lord's, calling it one of the easiest he had ever seen to bowl against.

For the unaware, the top order of the visitors consisted of Shan Masood and Azan Awais opening the innings, with Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam coming in at No. 3 and No. 4. Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan formed the remainder of the top and middle order, while Ali Usman, Khurram Shahzad and Mohammad Abbas came in at the bottom.

Commenting on their woeful performance, Vaughan explained how England's bowlers were likely excited about bowling at that batting lineup.

“I’ll be brutally honest, they’re not being challenged at all. This Pakistan batting line-up is possibly the easiest batting line-up I’ve seen for a long period of time to bowl against.

And not only that, I think, as bowlers, they’re all queuing up to bowl because they know there are wickets out there. They’re not going to get hurt. There’s no batter coming out there who is going to hurt them or damage their figures. It’s almost, ‘Roll up, roll up, who wants to get the wickets?’” Vaughan commented on the TMS Podcast on BBC Sounds.

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Vaughan calls Pakistan a second-division county team

While continuing the conversation, Vaughan was appreciative of the English bowling attack, but he deliberately compared Pakistan to a second-division county cricket team, further adding to the humiliation for a side that failed to put up much of a challenge against the Ollie Robinson-led bowling unit .

“But this Pakistan batting line-up—are we talking second-division county cricket? There’s no way they’re batting at a standard that suggests this is a Test-match batting line-up,” Vaughan added.

The highest scorer in Pakistan's first innings was Azan Awais, who offered some resistance with his 102-ball 46. Saud Shakeel was the second-highest scorer, managing only a paltry 16 runs.

English bowling lineup toys with Babar Azam & Co. at Lord's

Ollie Robinson claimed a four-wicket haul, while Jofra Archer cleaned up the top and tail with his three wickets. Josh Tongue also picked up two wickets, while Gus Atkinson went wicketless in the seven overs they bowled.

Significantly, the collapse of the Pakistan batting unit was triggered after the 30th over, with the team tumbling from 91/5 to 110 all out in just eight overs.

Commenting on the quality of England's bowling attack, Vaughan once again praised the challenge posed by the new-look team under Joe Root.

"I think they all know that Pakistan aren’t going to make big scores. So you’re only going to be out there for 40 or 50 overs, which means you can give everything in every spell. You keep going and saying, ‘I’ll bowl another one,’ because there are so many wickets out there.

It’s just so easy for them. Yet, they’re still doing a good job and still looking very threatening. I think this attack, bowling the way they are, will challenge better batting line-ups if they continue in this fashion.

There’s no doubt they’re going to challenge the likes of South Africa and Australia next summer. I think they’ll challenge the Australian batting line-up quite nicely if they bowl like this," Vaughan concluded.

At stumps on Day 2, England had already extended their lead to 261 runs. In their second innings, England reached 81/3, with Emilio Gay and Harry Brook currently at the crease.

Unfortunately for England, Joe Root hasn't impressed with the bat in either innings. He scored only four runs in the first innings and managed 24 in the second.

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