Azhar is our main player, says Aslam

abu dhabi — This is quite a story that a player who was in doubt of playing any part in the Test series is now shouldering the responsibility of seeing Pakistan to safety against Sri Lanka.

Azhar Ali had battled injuries, taken injections, to be named in the squad to face Sri Lanka in the first Test match.

And on the third day of the match, Azhar successfully fended off Lankan spinners with a gritty 74 runs.

Opener Sami Aslam said Azhar is the senior-most player in the team and their mainstay now. “Azhar is scoring lot of runs as his career tells us. He has scored 5,000 runs in 61 Test matches. Yes, he is scoring everywhere in England, Australia, and in last year he scored, I think, 1,700 runs. He is the main player after Younis (Khan) and Misbah (ul Haq). He is the most senior player in Pakistan team right now,” he said during the post-match press conference on Saturday.

He noted that it is difficult for a new batsman to score and if anyone is settled on the pitch then he needs to carry on.

“Yes, in these conditions, it is easy to score for a set batsman.”

Sami has played a lot of cricket in the UAE in the U-19 circle and on ‘A’ tours. He, however, once again failed to convert his fifty, his sixth, into a big score. He pointed out that it wasn’t pressure as he has scored more centuries in domestic cricket than fifties.

“In U-19, I have the record for most centuries in the world. I’m used to being in big situations. Very soon you will see me score a century,” the 21-year-old said.

Sri Lankan keeper Niroshan Dickwella said the team will have a definite gameplan to get Azhar out.

“We were looking to take wickets in the latter part of the game and luckily we took the fourth wicket. We are hoping to get a good start tomorrow (Sunday) morning.”

Dickwella did mention about the weather being hot like “playing in an oven”.

“It’s seaming hot in the middle and the wicket is different. I have played in these types of wickets but humidity and climate makes it difficult to play,” the Lankan keeper added.

ashwani@khaleejtimes.com