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KEY TAKEAWAYS: - Mohammad Yousuf identified a specific technical flaw behind Pakistan's Edgbaston collapse. - He said batters shuffling across before the ball arrives lose the ability to judge line and length. - Pakistan were bowled out for 133, though England have since lost two early wickets in reply. Mohammad Yousuf takes swing over Pakistan after their 1st innings collapse Pakistan's batting has been picked apart by pundits, journalists and former players throughout this tour, but Mohammad Yousuf offered something the others largely skipped over, an actual diagnosis. Rather than reaching for words like disgraceful or shambolic, the former batting great pointed to a specific technical fault he believes explains the entire tour. The collapse at Edgbaston gave him fresh evidence. Pakistan were eventually bowled out for 133, with Josh Tongue taking 4 for 38 and cleaning up Babar Azam, Mohammad Imran and Saud Shakeel, while Ollie Robinson and Jofra Archer also chipped in on a surface offering little more than ordinary seam movement. Where most reactions focused on the result, Yousuf zeroed in on the movement of the batters' feet before the ball had even left the bowler's hand. MORE: LIVE: England vs Pakistan 3rd Test, Day 1 - Live score, updates, highlights, result from Edgbaston What Mohammad Yousuf said about Pakistan's batting technique Posting on X, Yousuf broke the problem down into a single mechanical flaw that he believes has undone the batting lineup throughout the series. "If you keep shuffling across with an open chest before the ball arrives, you'll never judge line or length and end up playing away from your body. That's Pakistan's batting today in one sentence. Learn before it's too late," he wrote. If you keep shuffling across with an open chest before the ball arrives, you’ll never judge line or length and end up playing away from your body. That’s Pakistan’s batting today in one sentence. Learn before it’s too late. #ENGvsPAK #Cricket — Mohammad Yousaf (@yousaf1788) September 9, 2026 The observation describes a batter moving their front foot and opening their body towards the off side too early in their setup, a technique flaw that leaves the eyes and hips out of alignment with the ball's actual line. The consequence is exactly what Yousuf described, playing away from the body with hard hands, which produces the steady stream of edges to the cordon that has defined Pakistan's batting collapses throughout this tour. MORE: 'Pakistan collapsing on a flat pitch at Edgbaston': Nasser Hussain's brutal jibe live on TV England's reply offers Pakistan's bowlers a rare crumb of comfort There was at least a flicker of response from Pakistan with the ball. England, needing 133 to draw level on first innings, lost Ben Duckett cheaply before Jordan Cox was trapped lbw by Mohammad Abbas for 4, leaving the hosts 26 for 2 after seven overs. Abbas, the most disciplined bowler in Pakistan's much-changed attack, also beat Joe Root's outside edge with one shaping away from the England captain shortly after he arrived at the crease. It was a rare passage of the match in which Pakistan looked capable of applying the kind of pressure England's bowlers have exerted throughout the series. Root remained unbeaten on 2 as England looked to steady themselves, still trailing by 107 with the match delicately poised for the first time in the innings. MORE: Helpless Ramiz Raja reacts to the turmoil in current Pakistan cricket team Why Yousuf's technical read matters more than the usual criticism Most of the reaction to Pakistan's batting this series has stopped at outrage, and understandably so given the results. Yousuf's intervention is different because it identifies a cause rather than simply cataloguing the symptom, and it comes from a batter who faced some of the finest fast bowling attacks of his generation and knows exactly what correct setup and balance look like at the crease. It also lines up with what has been visible across the series. The false-shot percentages at Headingley, Lord's and now Edgbaston have been consistently high, and a shuffling trigger movement would explain why batters who look assured in white-ball cricket, where the same technique matters far less against different lengths and fields, have looked so exposed in the longer format. His closing line carries real urgency, and Abbas's early inroads into England's top order only sharpen the point. Pakistan's bowlers have shown they can still compete in these conditions. Whether the batting group can be coached out of a fundamental flaw before it costs them another series is the question Yousuf's warning was really asking. For all the latest cricket news, opinion, and commentary and to share your voice, head to our Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter) pages.