Cavaliers or Warriors?
akistan wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmad is confident that his team can complete the formalities of wrapping up the Test series against West Indies, by taking an inaccessible 2-0 lead, early on the final day today of the second Test at the Shaikh Zayed Stadium.
The hosts still need to take six wickets in 90 overs on a track which is starting to crack. “Our position is very good and had we got one more wicket, it would have been job well done for the day. After another 18 overs, we will have the new ball. The bowlers have to work a bit hard on this wicket but Inshallah, we will finish the match tomorrow [today] early,” said Ahmad, who scored a quick-fire 56 off 59 balls in the first innings.
The slowness of the wicket forced Pakistan to declare the innings at lunch, said Ahmad, whose side has now set the Windies a record chase of 456.
“Declaring at lunch was to make sure that we have enough time to bowl them out as the wicket is a bit slow. We didn’t want to come into a situation where we are going to struggle to do that. It has happened with us in the past,” said Ahmad, adding that his side’s aim was to score 200 runs in the first session and once that goal was accomplished, they decided to give the opposition 150 overs to bat.
“Tomorrow [today], we have 90 overs to get those remaining wickets. This wicket had some more bounce when we played here before. Now it is starting to break and that we saw when Yasir was bowling his last spell. If we get a wicket or two early with the new ball, things will become easy,” felt Ahmad, who also backed left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar, who has gone wicket-less so far, to come good.
“Zulfi bhai [brother] is playing after a gap of almost one year and here his role is also a bit different. We are trying to attack with Yasir bhai and with Zulfi, we are trying to contain the runs. He has bowled well and supported Yasir well whom we back to win us the match tomorrow.”
West Indies head coach Henderson Springer, meanwhile, blamed ‘lack of concentration’ on the part of his batsmen for being in the situation where they are now.
“We have two experienced players in Marlon Samuels and Darren Bravo but rest of the guys are actually still learning to play this game of Test cricket and trying to make their mark.
“We are up against a strong team, one that are coming out of a very good tour of England. We are up against a good team in their backyard,” said Springer, adding, “But it’s good to see that we are getting these starts and 170 is a start, especially when we are chasing over 450 runs. Our problem is that we are losing two wickets too soon and sometimes two wickets too many.” It could turn out to be a showdown between LeBron James and Kevin Durant as the new season gets under way|
Pakistan wicket-keeper