‘The tail needs to take responsibility’ – Sarfraz Ahmed

Pakistan suffered a 2-1 loss after New Zealand set them a 280-run target on the final day and bowled them out for 156.

Pakistan’s collapse – seven batsmen made single-digit scores – had echoes of their display in the first Test of the series at the same venue, when New Zealand triggered a similar collapse and won by four runs.

Ahmed said “it was a very disappointing series” and wanted his lower-order batsmen to contribute more. “We got chances to dominate in all three matches and we let them go,” he said. “In the first Test, we did not take a good first-innings lead because of which we lost by four runs.

“Here as well, we did get an opportunity to build a big lead which we did not utilise and we had to face the consequences.

“I had said before the Test series that consistency is of great importance. Batting coaches do work with the batsmen by highlighting technical issues, but a batsman needs to stretch his good form. We should look at Kane Williamson on how he has towed his team with his batting throughout the series.

“The most problematic is our tail. Batsmen do get out sometimes, but the tail needs to take responsibility and add 25-50 runs. A lot of hard work is done by them (batsmen), so it should be ensured that when a batsman is batting with them, there is no irresponsibility.”

Ahmed said his batsmen needed to be “mentally strong”, especially the opening pair of Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez, who both struggled this series.

“Coaches have their responsibilities, but our batsmen need to realise theirs and be mentally strong," he said. "We will have to look into it and this has been an issue for us for the past two years. It needs to be looked at that why our opening pair fails to cope up against the new ball.

“It is the key to set momentum especially when you know it won't be easy to bat on the fifth day as the new ball grips on the surface. If the openers fail to provide the platform, the batsmen under them will feel the pressure. The same happened today.”

Ahmed also conceded that the loss in the United Arab Emirates casts doubts on how the team will in the upcoming series in South Africa. “It is definitely painful (to lose in the UAE),” he said. “And, of course, it does raise a question that how would we win in South Africa if we are not winning at home.

“Our bowling is doing fine, but we will have to work a lot on our batting. We are not scoring big runs here. In South Africa, we will have to face more challenging conditions. We will talk about this with our batsmen when we reach there. We will look at the suitable top-order batsmen who can score there.”