AZHAR ALI HELPS PAK REBUILD AFTER SETBACKS
ABU DHABI: Azhar Ali’s resolute half-century helped Pakistan reach 139-3 in reply to New Zealand’s 274 on Day Two of the third and final Test here on Tuesday. Azhar, who finished the day unbeaten on 62 off 169 balls, helped Pakistan recover from the loss of two early wickets to trail New Zealand by 135 runs with seven wickets remaining. Asad Shafiq was unbeaten on 26 after the pair shared an unbroken fourth-wicket partnership of 54 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. New Zealand pace bowler Trent Boult had removed the out-ofform Mohammad Hafeez and Imam-ul-haq with only 17 runs on the board, having both openers caught by Tim Southee in the slips. With Pakistan facing a familiar top-order collapse, Azhar stitched together a 68-run stand with Haris Sohail (34) to ease their nerves.
Brief scores: New Zealand 1st inngs 274 (J Raval 45, K Williamson 89, BJ Watling 77, B Asif 5-65, Y Shah 3-75 vs Pakistan 1st inngs 139-3 (A Ali 62*, H Sohail 34, A Shafiq 26, T Boult 2-39) ADELAIDE: India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, who among other batsmen failed to rack up big scores in the England series which India lost 4-1, hopes they’ll be able to build partnerships unlike in England where the wickets and Dukes ball were difficult to handle.
The batting line-up came under criticism for their twin failures i n South Africa and England, where Kohli was the only one to defy the opposition.
“In England, conditions were really challenging and even English batsmen struggled a lot. Apart from Alastair Cook’s last Test innings, no one scored (big runs) for them,” said Rahane, who added that being hosts as well as having a strong bowling attack makes Australia favourites. “I think it is important to get those long partnerships together (like last time). That will be really helpful in (winning the series) in Australia,” said Rahane.
Rahane, who will bat at No 5, added that batting will be easier on this trip than England not just because of the wickets but also because of the Kookaburra ball. “Kookaburra, after 30-35 overs, is relatively easy to bat against. When you bat in England against Dukes’ ball, you know you are never set in those conditions.”
It will also mean that lower down the order he will get to handle a ball that won’t do much. And he hopes to capitalise on that and convert his starts into tall scores.
“In England I got a couple good starts — 80-odd in Nottingham and a half-century in Southampton. For me as a No 5 batsman, it is important to convert those starts into big hundreds rather than thinking about targets.”
The last time India faced Australia, at home in 2017, the talk in the Aussie camp veered around how to stop Kohli. Aussie spinner Nathan Lyon had equated Kohli’s wicket to the head of a snake and said that if they cut, the body will fall away.
Kohli responded by saying that if the extra focus of the opposition on him can let other India players get away and score runs, he won’t mind.
Rahane cited the example of his 262-run partnership with Virat Kohli in Melbourne in 2014-15 and said that Australia’s focus on India’s star batsman helped other batsmen do their job silently at the other end.
“Last time, both of us really enjoyed that partnership at the MCG. Mitchell Johnson was going after Virat Kohli and I was enjoying from the end as well as playing my own game. Virat at the other end was really aggressive and going after the bowlers, verbally as well. That really helped me focus on my game.”
Australia, however, seem to have changed their tactic this time and are not focussing only on Kohli. All-rounder Mitchell Marsh said, “We know Virat’s a great player. We’ll have our plans for him and we can execute them. But if people think we’re not prepared for the other batsmen in the Indian team, they’d be silly.”