Nasser Hussain Critiques Pakistan's Test Selection Decisions

Nasser Hussain has never been one to tiptoe around an issue, and he did not bother starting now.

Watching Pakistan’s latest selection gamble unravel in English conditions, the former England captain took direct aim at the decision to parachute Saim Ayub into a Test at the top of the order with minimal preparation for the format or the environment.

“I don’t know who thinks it’s the right thing to fly someone over from foreign conditions, playing a completely different format, and think they’re going to be fine in these conditions against a Dukes ball, against Ollie Robinson and England’s bowling attack,” Hussain said, his frustration laid bare.

This was not just about one dismissal or one nervous innings. For Hussain, it cut deeper, into what he sees as a growing disregard for the demands of Test cricket.

“It is just a sort of disrespect and disregard for Test match cricket. Test match cricket, as any cricketer will tell you, is the toughest format. Batting at the top of the order in England is the toughest task, and you just feel you can fly someone in from some part of the world and go, Good luck,” he added.

The setting only sharpened his point. Lord’s. Overcast skies. A Dukes ball in the hands of a disciplined attack. This is where even giants have been made to look ordinary.

Hussain reached back into history to prove it.

“Virender Sehwag tried it on this ground, if you remember… they flew him in. Virender Sehwag got a pair, and that’s Virender Sehwag, who’s a better, more experienced player than Saim,” he reminded viewers, underlining how even one of the game’s great aggressors had failed when thrown cold into an English Test.

The criticism was not a free pass for Ayub either. Hussain made it clear that the young left-hander must own his part in the failure.

“So a bit of responsibility goes to the lad for the shot he played. But also, whoever thought that was a seriously good decision and that he was going to go okay this week?”

That “whoever” is at the heart of the storm now swirling around Pakistan’s red-ball planning.

After the second Test at Lord’s, Pakistan effectively tore up their script. Seven players were pulled from the squad. The coaching staff was removed. A new group of players arrived, and with them, a white-ball coaching set-up headed by Mike Hesson was dropped into a red-ball series.

It is a radical pivot, the kind that might work in franchise cricket, where squads churn and roles shift overnight. In the Test arena, under grey English skies and with a Dukes ball jagging around, Hussain’s question lingers over it all.

Who, exactly, is taking responsibility for the way Pakistan are treating the longest format?