Sarfraz all praise for gritty Khawaja

dubai — Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed defended the decision of not enforcing the follow on after Australia secured a dramatic draw in the last over of the first Test at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

“This was not the right time, we had lots of time. We bowled well and then bowlers bowled well, they had bowled 30 overs in the day. So there was lot of humidity and heat, we gave them rest and did not enforce follow on,” the Pakistan captain told reporters on Thursday.

But Sarfraz admitted that Usman Khawaja (141) played the innings of a lifetime to save the Test match for Australia. “I think I have just seen one of the best innings in Test cricket, especially in the fourth innings. The way he batted and took Australia to the draw, it was brilliant,” Sarfraz said.

“He batted very well, he played most of his shots, even the reverse sweep, so his was a brilliant knock today.”

Sarfraz was also impressed with the way both Australian openers Khawaja (85 and 141) and Aaron Finch (62 and 49) played in both innings.

“If you see the Australian batting line up, they batted well at the top, their openers did well in both the innings. Then Travis Head also played well today. Tim Paine also batted very well,” he said. “But yes, if we had bowled in the right areas,

it probably would have been a bit more difficult for them to bat on the fifth day.”

And the wicketkeeper-batsman admitted that it was frustrating for the team not to come away with a victory after having dominated Australia for most part of the match.

“Look when we came today, we were confident of winning the Test, we were in a good position and that’s the beauty of Test cricket,” he said.

“Khawaja batted well, no praise is enough for his batting and then Head also supported him. Khawaja played all his shots which are usually tough on the fifth day for a batsman, sweep and reverse sweep, so yes it’s frustrating.

“But test cricket’s beauty lies in this that a team draws from a position of losing after a thrilling contest. We did our best but unfortunately the result did not come our way.”