A Land of Pacers
We generally love to see things that occur rarely; either it’s the moon transgressing the path of the sun or a group of people opposing the odds of time. But here is the plot. If we see something that defies our set standards, we view it as something alien. We forget to see the beauty of something new and start to question things around us.
Pakistan, the green land, is known as the land of pacers. A nation that is crazy about its fast bowlers. I mean, they just want pace, drama and fierceness. We often see that a bowler comes up who bowls consistently at 145 km/h, and then advocacy for his selection to the national side starts. So many cricketers have suffered from this culture, just like Mohammad Abbas.
The Man who Shattered the Pace Myth
Mohammad Abbas has never been a bowler who can intimidate the batters with express pace. Instead, he focused on something else: the accurate line and length, without which even pace is of no use. Mohammad Abbas is not as expressive as traditional Pakistani fast bowlers. Rather, he mastered the art of relentless accuracy. His sharp calculation of pitching the ball, subtle seam movement, and exceptional patience make him difficult to face. Mohammad Abbas made his international Test debut in 2017, against West Indies, after a phenomenal domestic season in 2016. He was named the PCB Test Player of the Year 2018, after a stellar performance of an 8-wicket haul at Lord’s Cricket Ground.
Despite all these exceptional performances and remarkable effectiveness, Abbas just disappeared from the spotlight. Mohammad Abbas’s career is full of knick-knacks, but he has always been an underappreciated athlete, just like many others in other sports in Pakistan. In an era of speed guns, Abbas made his own place with his consistency and brilliance. Mohammad Abbas has only 30 caps across his nine years test career, but he still managed to be in the top 10 ICC Test rankings after a comeback last year.
A Legend of County Cricket
Mohammad Abbas grew up playing tape-ball cricket just like any other kid in Pakistan, but a significant turn came in his cricketing career when he joined county cricket in England. He played for Leicestershire, Hampshire, Nottinghamshire, and Derbyshire, while claiming more than 300 wickets with an elite average under 20. He is exceptional with his control and his ability to adapt to certain conditions. Mohammad Abbas is known as the master of test cricket, who dictates the ball with his wrist, just like Peter Moores said: “His gift is in his wrist and in his right hand, really, that ability to control how the seam comes out and the slight variations on the ball.”
He does not overwhelm the batters with his expressive speed; rather, he waits for a mistake from the batter’s side. This patience makes him even more competitive; he operates the game ball by ball, and he comes at the batter in the blink of an eye. The emergence of Mohammad Abbas proves that even though the game of cricket has evolved so much, the one who follows the basics always has the last laugh.
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The Display of Art
What makes Abbas’ story even more standout is his simplicity; he never tried to reinvent his technique or mould it into something completely different. He sticks to the fundamentals of bowling that make him trickier to solve. He bowls with such precision that enables him to land the ball on a coin, and if a batter tries to go after him, he pulls the length back. To survive Mohammad Abbas, one must give him his due along with a very strong technique.
Although his international career was interrupted by the selection decisions, he comes up with brilliant performances every time. His ability to operate the ball makes the batters, and they eventually fall into a well-designed trap. In July 2026, during the first test against West Indies, in which he claimed a five-wicket haul after bowling stunning 15 overs, Mohammad Abbas bowled an exceptional over to Justin Greaves.
In the 33rd over, Mohammad Abbas set the stage for Justin Greaves by bowling wide of the crease repeatedly. After changing his release point for the 5th ball, Abbas bowled the sixth ball again wide of the crease. This sudden change of angle disturbed Greaves’ concentration, and he played a lofted drive straight into Babar Azam’s hands. This arrangement was an absolute masterclass of Test cricket by one of the greatest Test bowlers. This has to be shown to the young lads: how to bowl with accuracy and precision while executing the mental side of the art.
The Return of Mohammad Abbas
Back in 2018, when Mohammad Abbas debuted for Pakistan, AB de Villiers and Dale Steyn tweeted in his praise. Abbas did everything right, except one thing: he played for the wrong nation. Pakistan has been obsessed with pace over skills and consistency. Due to PCB’s wrong decisions and our priorities, we never got to see the best version of Mohammad Abbas.
He has played just 30 matches since his debut and has quietly achieved something incredible: he has added another record to his name- the lowest average of 22.7 in Test cricket among all Pakistani bowlers, even above Waqar Younis and Imran Khan. His skill to execute with pinpoint precision is very rare, but we were never able to see this because of our blindness. What if all those prime years were not wasted? He could have been in the same elite list along with James Anderson, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood.
The people who kept him away from International cricket need to be answerable to Mohammad Abbas and to the Pakistani nation. The selectors who denied his abilities and consistency, just on the basis of one lame excuse that he is not fit for this. Today, they picked him up to lead Pakistan’s test bowling attack.
When no one was there, he owned this with full devotion. Abbas’ ability to bowl such peachy deliveries, even with a little bit of assistance from the surface, makes him difficult to handle.
The Takeaway
Mohammad Abbas is a reminder that fast bowling is far more than speed. Abbas bowls at mid-70 mph, but he keeps the batter honest with his meticulous precision. Cricket history shows that accuracy and control are as destructive as pace, or even more lethal. Because raw pace may go against the bowler, and the batter thrashes him out of the park. Mohammad Abbas’ inclusion in Pakistan’s test squad against England would be a trump card for Pakistan.
Because of his familiarity with the English conditions, it would be easy for him to assess and bowl accordingly. Meanwhile, Babar Azam’s side will rely on Sajid Khan’s twirling deliveries, Abdullah Shafique’s form and Muhammad Rizwan’s suffocating chatter behind the stumps, along with Mohammad Abbas.
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