Karachi

Misbah-ul-Haq’s men thrashed hosts England at the Oval, the venue of one of the country’s darkest moments in cricket, earlier this month to earn a 2-2 draw in the four-test series and prove to many that they can compete on any surface. 

Last Wednesday, Sri Lanka completed a 3-0 whitewash of table-topping Australia to allow India to go top of the ICC rankings and when four straight days of rain denied the Indians a 3-0 series win in the West Indies, Pakistan were elevated to the top of the pile without bowling a ball. 

“This is what cricketers play for and want to achieve in their careers. It is a reward for something we had planned as a group a few years ago and have worked extremely hard to achieve it,” Misbah told reporters of the rise to the top. 

Unable to play at home since a 2009 militant attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore and shorn of bowling prospect Mohammad Amir in the wake of a damaging spot-fixing scandal at the Oval in 2010, Pakistan have ploughed a lonely furrow in cricket’s wilderness. 

Undaunted by the isolation, Amir has returned after serving a five-year ban and immediately added fire to a formidable pace attack that, supplemented by the guile of imposing leg-spinner Yasir Shah, can run through any batting order. 

Pakistan have capitalised on the dust bowl pitches in their UAE surrogate home to see off all-comers.

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