Former England captain Nasser Hussain has acknowledged that Babar Azam is 'horrendously' out of form and it is strange that he has gone without scoring a half-century on belter pitches. He added that pressure is mounting on Babar as he keeps registering low scores every time he comes out to bat and it might be a psychological factor that is affecting him.

Babar's twin failures in the first Test against England have made it 18 successive Test knocks over nine games without reaching even a fifty. He has been subject to intense trolling online and his off-form has reflected in Pakistan's performance in the longest format.

Pakistan have lost their last three Tests, including two against Bangladesh last month and the latest against England on Friday.

"Their (Pakistan) best player, a world-class player, Babar Azam is horrendously out of form. It's nine Test matches without a half-century, on these pitches! Maybe that's psychological, with everything that he's been through, giving up the white-ball captaincy," Hussain said while speaking on Sky Sports.

"Spin hasn't seemed to be much of a threat. Where are they with their spinners? Historically, we would have played against Abdul Qadir, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed. They've always produced great mystery spinners," Hussain added.

In England's first innings score of 823/7, ace Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi gave away 120 runs in his 26 overs. Naseem Shah was even costlier, conceding 157 runs in his 31 overs, although he managed to dismiss England skipper Ollie Pope for a duck and a set Jamie Smith.

Aamer Jamal was costlier than Naseem as well, conceding 126 runs in his 24 overs. Hussain said that Pakistan pacers lacked pace, making it a tough condition to overcome.

"And express pace: you wouldn't say any of their three seamers that they are playing at the moment are express pace. That's a dangerous combination. You have a top order that's failing in the second innings and you're not sure what pitch to prepare that suits your bowling attack," Hussain said.

Pakistan will be desperate to put up a good show when they play the second Test against England on October 15 in Multan.

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