Grim predictability blights Pakistan’s brief moments of light amid Test gloom

Babar Azam’s continued struggles summed up where Pakistan’s Test team finds itself. Photograph: Philip Brown/Getty Images

It was still morning when Babar Azam came in to bat at Edgbaston. The Test was only 45 minutes old but you could already see which direction it was heading. Pakistan were three wickets down. The floodlights were on, a thick smear of black cloud was moving slowly over the ground, there were odd spots of rain in the air. Ollie Robinson was bowling from one end, with the keeper standing up and five slips spread in a line just behind, and Jofra Archer was on at the other, four overs into his spell and only just warming up. It was a hell of a time to be batting.

But then it always seems to be, lately.