Pakistan trained hard in the days running into the Boxing Day Test. They really did. The batsmen did all those boring things they often get praised for - they buckled down, they applied themselves. They switched between spin, fast-bowling and the marble slab nets, sorted out their stances.
Yasir Shah bowled like a diamond in those days, beating batsmen like leggies are supposed to beat batsmen, and bowling lines a leggie who wins Tests is supposed to bowl; practising, in fact, exactly the opposite of what he has bowled so far in this Test series (and more on that elsewhere).
Meanwhile, the fast bowlers worked themselves into Test-match mode, building up their pace, settling upon a rhythm gradually over the days. They bowled as the batsmen wanted, and they bowled as they wanted, practising with the new ball as well as an old one. It was warm in the days leading up to this Test, but it seemed not to matter.
For the most part, there was great discipline and a tangible sense of process in how they went about their work. For the most part. On one of the days, Wahab Riaz was constantly over-stepping, sometimes by a lot, sometimes by not so much, but each time to a degree that it was clearly visible to any observer.
For a while, this continued unchecked. Eventually, the bowling coach asked a member of the support staff to stand to the side of the stumps (and not behind, where the umpire would stand) and asked him to call no-balls when they occurred.
This member of the staff had a number of other duties to fulfill and, as he would scan around the nets, he would miss some no-balls Wahab bowled, and call some others that he spotted. It was not dedicated observation and it wasn't the staff member's fault.
Ian Gould arrived, for a little bit of practice himself. Wahab overstepped a couple of times under his watch, and when told, was bemused by having done so, as if he wasn't a habitual over-stepper. Even by an approximate count, Wahab's count dwarfed the combined transgressions of the other bowlers. Maybe let's put it down to one bad day, shall we?
Well, given Wahab's record, maybe it isn't outrageous to assume that Pakistan have days like this in the nets often, because that record is horrific: in 16 Tests since he became a regular in the side in August 2014, he has bowled 98 no-balls. Ninety-eight (and since his debut in August 2010, only Ishant Sharma has bowled more than his 132).
A cursory count through the last 16 Tests he has played throw up four instances where he has dismissed batsmen only to be called for over-stepping. There have been three in the last six months: Jonny Bairstow at The Oval, Shane Dowrich in Sharjah, and, today, David Warner. In New Zealand, he dismissed Ross Taylor, only for the review to overturn the decision once replays showed he had over-stepped (it hardly matters that replays also showed the decision would have been overturned had it been a legal delivery). With greater scrutiny others may find more but it hardly matters because even if four doesn't sound like a big number, it is incalculable what it does to a side and what it must do to Wahab each time it happens.
No bowler is alike. Each exploits his body in subtly different ways to get out of it however much he can. Wahab is a seriously quick bowler and, moreover, he is one who can maintain that seriously quick pace. He doesn't build up to it - he gets there straight away. He strains and stretches for every yard of pace. In that pursuit, the very occasional no-ball can just about be explained away. But he is not the only really quick bowler in the world. Who else bowls as many as he does?
And how to explain the spell he had today, where he bowled five no-balls in 12 balls at one stage and has 10 for the innings so far? There was a strong wind behind him during it, no doubt, and these things play havoc with run-ups that are, by necessity, finely-tuned and prone to falling out of sync at the slightest distraction. But at some point there had to be a recalibration of the run-up, an effort to get a step or two behind where he was landing.
It was more infuriating because what he was delivering at the other end, at the batsmen, was sensational. It was one of those red-blooded Wahab spells to which you cannot fail to be sucked into - serious heat and serious reverse. Other than a Wasim Akram spell here and there - another serial over-stepper - it is difficult to recall something so thrillingly ill-disciplined.
This tour has been especially bad - he bowled seven at the Gabba. Mull over this: in eight Tests when Waqar Younis was coach, Wahab bowled 40 no-balls, while he has bowled 58 under Mickey Arthur. On an average, he was bowling a no-ball every 41.4 balls under Waqar. Under Arthur, he has done so every 25.4 balls. That isn't a coincidence, is it, that his discipline was tangibly better under a coach who, we can presume given he was a bowler himself, might have paid greater attention to these things?
Forget that. How can it be that, in over two years, a succession of coaches and assistant coaches have failed to work with him to iron out what is clearly an inherent flaw? How and why has he not worked it out himself? How has it happened under Misbah's captaincy, in which unusual attention to detail has been paid, and which has thrived on discipline in precisely such matters? This year, he has also repeatedly been warned for running onto danger areas in his follow-through and yet, as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, he continues doing so every innings he bowls in. Are these unfixable kinks?
"Lot of work has been done, but today, obviously, was not ideal," Azhar Ali explained later. "He bowled a lot of no-balls, but he works with the bowling coach. But today, maybe he wanted to push very hard.
"I think he wanted to bowl very quick and was trying to get some reverse swing. The wicket was very good, so maybe he was pushing too hard and the foot was going over the line too much. I know it was not ideal, but, hopefully, he can turn it around because he does not normally bowl that many no-balls."
Azhar is not the person to answer this best, but his attempt to do so, to say that this is unusual suggests that Pakistan are operating under a considerable sense of delusion. He does bowl them a lot. They are a problem. And because of it, a serious, legitimate weapon is being blunted.