Slow strangle in the UAE

The graveyard of empires, they should call it. Another No. 1 side left wondering how they came to be pulverised so relentlessly in Pakistan's UAE fortress.

In the run-up to the series, Graeme Smith thought England hadn't prepared well enough in 2012, while Paul Harris thought Pakistan didn't take their chances and didn't respond well to falling behind. One Test match later, it's South Africa's preparations and attitude coming under scrutiny.

But perhaps it is time we focus some attention on the "home" team's achievements. Pakistan seem to have developed a UAE slow-strangle strategy, one that is in many ways at odds with the long-running clichés about the team, but which utilises the local conditions to perfection.

Mohammad Irfan and Junaid Khan are the latest pace bowlers leading the line, and in contrast to several others in the past, both are attacking, adaptive bowlers. Previously the pacers had been used to soften the batsmen until the spinners could be brought in, but the emergence of the fast bowlers in this Test allows Pakistan to consider ending their reliance on a third spinner/fifth bowler, because Junaid and Irfan are able to dry up the runs as well as take wickets. Junaid, in particular, has a knack for picking up the best batsmen in the opposition, here accounting for one of Kallis' worst performances, and getting AB de Villiers right when Waqar Younis in the commentary box was detailing dystopic visions of a fourth-innings chase.

However, while wickets at the top helped, it was Irfan and Junaid's ability to also keep the scoring rate down that segued so well into Pakistan's Emirati slow-strangle tactic, which is based primarily on an attritional, run-squeezing approach. In this way, it is quite contrary to the more mercurial stylings of the past, since it forces batsmen to make mistakes rather than actively seeking to rout them. It's also one that makes perfect use of the conditions in the UAE, where the pitches don't hold the same demons as the listless heat and aridity seem to.

In the context of that general strategy, Zulfiqar Babar arrived as a wonderful replacement for the severely underrated Abdur Rehman, immediately falling into a rhythm with Saeed Ajmal and barely displaying any nerves. His style suited the attritional approach, with consistency taking precedence over mystery and flamboyance.

In an odd testament to Pakistan cricket's fluctuations, only one man has been part of the two bowling attacks that blew out England in 2012 and South Africa now: Ajmal. Then again, as he is the talisman of the bowling side, perhaps that shouldn't be a surprise. He is the bowler Pakistan turn to to knock the opposition over once they have been worn down.

In one sense, Ajmal is an anomaly in Pakistan's cricket history. They have previously had, in Saqlain Mushtaq, a spinner similar to Ajmal in his ability to think like a pace bowler, to create new deliveries and bowl fearlessly at the death. What sets Ajmal apart is that he is the first instance of a spinner as the leader of Pakistan's attack.

He serves the role of the anchor around whom the attack builds, bowling countless, unchanged overs as the pressure piles up imperceptibly yet relentlessly on the opposition, like sand on the ramparts of an abandoned fort. Yet he is also the bowler most capable of diving in for the kill, raising the tempo and morale of those around him, and getting the team to move in unison. In doing so, he allows for the slow-strangle strategy to be effective. With him bowling, Pakistan can play long spells of attritional, defensive cricket while still retaining the ability to move up a gear and start a rampage.

As the leader, Ajmal has plenty of the bravado and blue-aired frustrations of the Wasims and Waqars, yet his appeal and inspiration are built around his impish smile and quick wit. These seeming contradictions are best captured in the way he delivers the ball, resembling a drunken ninja falling off a window who still manages to launch a precise star-shaped dart that nicks the opponent's jugular.

Capturing these different styles and approaches allows Ajmal to achieve something far more important than the awards he has been famously ignored for. More than anyone else, it is Ajmal who has carried forth the soul of Pakistan's cricket across different eras, bringing together the tradition of attack with the contemporary discipline of attrition.

All these elements have come together for Pakistan to create an extremely effective guerilla tactic against the top sides - a slow choke that brings together the power of the elements as well as the complacency that visits to the UAE seem to bring out in tourists.

This tactic also seems to capture the quintessential experience most Pakistani citizens living and working in the UAE seem to have - one of little recognition or respect, built around unstinting hard work and long days in hellish conditions, but one that often realises transformative achievements that sort of sneak under the radar.