Us cricket fans are a funny lot.
We can be difficult to please, even at the best of times.
We know Test matches last five days and yet we often fall into the trap of thinking the first session has decided the result.
We extoll the virtues of patience and endurance in the longest format but moan when the game doesn’t move sufficiently fast enough.
And we sometimes don’t appreciate a possible match-winning innings because there’s a shiny new toy at the other end.
The second day at Rawalpindi was a day in which likes and dislikes often contradicted themselves.
There was Imam-ul-Haq, a maiden century to his name, passing 150 in front of a home crowd; one would think these were all causes for unbridled celebration.
And yet, when he was out lbw off the bowling of Pat Cummins there were only cheers from the Pindi crowd.
It was difficult to work out if the applause was in appreciation of his patient and persistent innings, or if it was a generous nod from the home crowd towards the skill of Cummins, who had toiled on the unresponsive pitch tirelessly alongside the rest of Australia’s bowlers.
It may have partly been the relief that a wicket had finally fallen and the game was moving forward.
But as Babar Azam walked out to replace Imam in the middle, it was clear that at least some of the excitement bubbled over at the thought of the captain batting.
Sorry, Imam. We’re here for Babar’s drives.
It felt a little unfair, and the same fate befell Azhar Ali who, along with Imam, was largely responsible for grinding Australia’s attack on the first two days of a three-Test series.
Pakistan’s plan was one that has worked many times before in Test cricket; bat once, bat big and trust your bowlers to take 20 wickets; if you can wear the bowlers out early in a run of back-to-back Tests and tire the minds and bodies of opposition fielders, you may reap the benefits immediately or further down the track.
Nathan Lyon has already bowled 52 overs in the opening innings of this first match while Cummins (24 overs], Hazlewood (26) and Starc (24) already have plenty of miles in their legs; this may or may not affect the outcome of this series but, while it may irritate or bore some viewers it can be a highly effective tactic.
And while Babar’s drives were indeed dreamy crowd pleasers, in particular an early straight punch down the ground off Cameron Green that almost purred, it was the under-appreciated Azhar’s strokes that kept the scoreboard ticking at a brisker rate.
After all, in the time it took for Babar to score 34 runs, before a brilliant direct hit from Marnus Labuschage ended his innings, Azhar had made 66.
But the subjective scales that make us enjoy or appreciate one player more than another can be difficult to quantify.
Sections of the crowd could be heard chanting, ’We want Warner!’ It was unclear whether they were hoping for a Pakistan collapse or possibly a declaration that would bring Warner to the crease, but it soon became clear that Warner had won the fans over by smiling and waving while fielding on the boundary.
Starc, however, made the cardinal error of failing to wave to the crowd and he was rewarded with pantomime boos whenever he walked to the log-cabin.
It was all good-natured and light hearted stuff, but it did highlight the sense of ennui that grew thicker throughout the day, along with the clouds that hung stubbornly above Rawalpindi.
Still, there was a plan to execute; bat for most of the day and declare sometime in the final hour to give Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah a shot at weary Australian batters with the new ball.
But the plan turned to farce just as it was coming to fruition.
Babar Azam declared just as the light faded quickly and, perhaps sensing that time was running out, the players ran back out on the field too early for the ground staff, who were still preparing the pitch with the heavy roller.
Once the field had been cleared, Shaheen took the ball in hand, ready to unleash on Usman Khawaja, batting for the first time in the city of his birth.
Finally, after the gentle pace of much of the day, we were about to witness the fire and brimstone that would be worth the wait.
But the darkening skies had the last laugh, despite the presence of floodlights, and the umpires deemed it unsafe for fast bowling.
And so, instead of seven or eight overs of pace mayhem, Australia faced a single over of Said Khan’s offspin before the umpires took the players off the field for bad light and soon after called an early end to play.
Us cricket fans may be a funny lot. But, as day two at Rawalpindi demonstrated, Test cricket can sometimes be a ridiculous game.
