It is difficult to believe now but there was a time when Australia and Pakistan had a rivalry that meant something.
Especially during the 1970s, when both sides had an eclectic collection of fast bowlers and plenty of magnetic personalities, they produced rowdy, unbuttoned cricket of a kind that would define the era.
Pakistan were popular tourists to Australia, first in 1972/73 when they managed to be whitewashed in a series they could have won, and even more four years later, on a seminal tour.
Such a draw were they, in 1976/77, that after winning the final of three scheduled Tests in Sydney, the Australian board asked them to stay on to try and fit in a fourth. Pakistan could not, booked to travel to the Caribbean via Fiji.
From the start of the 1970s through to the end of 1984, Pakistan played more Tests against Australia than any other opponent; after Ashes opponents England and the world’s best team, the West Indies, Pakistan were also Australia’s most regular opponent in that time.
Critically, it was competitive stuff: Australia had the edge, with nine wins, but there were seven losses. They won three of the seven series, Pakistan two (including a whitewash each).
The lustre has drained out of it swiftly since. It is not a rivalry anymore as much as an apparently random configuration of cricket’s calendar which occasionally brings them together on the field. Since the start of the millennium, Australia has been Pakistan’s most reluctant visitor; the world stopped touring Pakistan in 2009 but Australia already had not visited for a decade.
The only Test-playing sides Pakistan and Australia have met less often – than each other – are Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
If we agree that alongside familiarity, competitiveness forms an intrinsic part of what we consider a rivalry, this fails again. Australia have beaten Pakistan in 13 of their past 14 Tests and in 28 of 38 one-day internationals.
This is an owning, not a rivalry, even if the definition has been stretched by recent contests of cricket’s most lucrative “rivalries”, those between Australia, England and India.
Something about modern Australia has brought out the worst in modern Pakistan, an absolute crumbling as opposition. The pain of Pakistan defeat has been amplified by how poorly they have performed.
Sample the margin of those 13 Test victories (look away, if Pakistani): once by 10 wickets, twice by nine wickets, three by an innings, one by nearly 500 runs, and by an average of 184 runs in three other wins.
It is a contest to kill the soul.
Yet despite this, there may be hope for something more competitive this time. A month ago, when Saeed Ajmal was still available, Pakistan had reason to even feel bullish about their prospects.
Admittedly, Australia have recovered some of their snarling essence, but in conditions such as those they will find this month in the UAE?
Their last series in what could be construed as similar conditions ended in a 4-0 Test wipeout, in India last year.
That is unlikely to happen again but it does leave Pakistan some light. Mitchell Johnson has been a terrifying prospect, but on these sluggish surfaces, Pakistan might dare to hope they can play him out.
Nathan Lyon, on the other hand, is exactly the kind of understated spinner who might thrive against Pakistan: the guy in the bowling attack every other side looks to target is inevitably the one Pakistan struggles against.
Absences will ultimately come to define the tour. Ajmal is gone, as big a blow as Pakistan can take. Ryan Harris, so instrumental to Australia’s resurgence, will not be around.
Pakistan will not mind, given that he took 13 wickets in just three ODIs against them back in 2010.
Injuries have pushed Shane Watson to the periphery of the Australian Test XI and he will miss this series with another.
In these conditions he might have thrived as a true all-rounder, on low, slower surfaces suited not just to his batting, but also to his medium-pace bowling.
Most intriguing, there remains a cloud over the participation of the two most experienced batsmen on either side. Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, is out of the ODIs, and though he may play in the Tests, it is by no means certain.
Pakistan could be without Younis Khan, following another tiff between him and the Pakistan board. It is almost not important why they are fighting, but if he chooses to snub the Tests, Pakistan’s batting will have been dealt a fatal, self-inflicted blow. That they can do without.
Maybe, given how the rivalry has fallen away, it is only fitting that so many of the big names who could give it some sheen will not be around.
The optimistic way of looking at that, though, is that it could create some new stars.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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