Pakistan bowlers bowled beautifully: Finch
dubai — Aaron Finch doffed his hat to the rival team after the Baggy Greens saw their hopes of a Test win in the UAE go up in flames, losing 10 wickets for 60 runs.
“Pakistan bowled beautifully. The way they squeezed the run rate just before and after lunch, put us under a lot of pressure,” admitted Finch who made an impressive half-century on his Test debut at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
“Any time you play in the subcontinent you know that when you have new batters in it can be tough to start,” he said, referring to Australia’s stunning middleorder collapse after he and Usman Khawaja put on 142 runs for the opening wicket.
“Pakistan get up and about when they get some wickets. It is about identifying that, and being more patient and calm when you first get to the crease.
“They squeezed hard for a 10over period, they set some straight fields, bowled straight but with a little reverse swing, and spin at the other end.
“Yes, it wasn’t ideal to lose 10 for 60, but I thought the way we fought back in the last 17 overs to have them three down … 320 is still a significant lead – or deficit for us – but I thought the way we fought back was really positive,” the opening batsman added.
“It was tough going, a real grind. Credit to them, the 20 minutes before lunch and the 20 minutes after lunch were some real quality bowling. I felt we were just about through that.
“In the subcontinent, on slow wickets like this, the game flows … you can go through those 40 minute periods of no runs, then the runs flow for 15 minutes and they bring it back together.”
Finch rued the shot he played that cost his wicket against Mohammad Abbas.
“That was my bad for getting out right then when it was coming towards the end of that period, and not going on and getting through that,” he said.
The old ball, according to Finch, can give batsmen lot of trouble on this pitch.
“Once the ball gets a little softer, it starts to be more inconsistent off the wicket,” he said.
“But we are still really positive we can come out and fight hard in the second-half of this game.”