The comeback of Shoaib Malik
Shoaib’s hundred has been an inspiring one. I thought his cricketing career was almost over, but he handled the lean-patch of his career quite well. That was a very nice hundred from him and again, it conveyed us the message that those who quit, lose the battle.
Shoaib’s hundred has been an inspiring one. I thought his cricketing career was almost over, but he handled the lean-patch of his career quite well. That was a very nice hundred from him and again, it conveyed us the message that those who quit, lose the battle.
Certainly, both Malik and Sania are rocking at the moment.
England’s fielding let them down
Dry conditions, Kukaboora ball and thus, the ideal way to bowl in Abu Dhabi is by maintaining a tight line-and-length. The English bowlers have been good at doing that - the line was a bit on the fourth and fifth stump while the length was on the good-and-back-of-a-length. But their hard work went wasted due to poor fielding.
England’s fielding let them down
Dry conditions, Kukaboora ball and thus, the ideal way to bowl in Abu Dhabi is by maintaining a tight line-and-length. The English bowlers have been good at doing that - the line was a bit on the fourth and fifth stump while the length was on the good-and-back-of-a-length. But their hard work went wasted due to poor fielding.
Ian Bell dropped two catches: Mohammad Haffez on 7and Asad
Shafiq at the fag end of day one, while
a Stuart Broad’s dismissal of Shoaib Malik, who was batting on 40, was declared
no ball by the third umpire which simply dented the morale of the English team.
But, still they didn’t lose heart and kept on going.
Impressive Adil Rashid and Cook’s desire to make things happen
In the 72nd over of the day, Cook went from conventional to a bit more innovative thinking. He stepped back from packing the offside field and in turn, engaged more fielders on the legside with Cook himself batting at short mid-on, almost close to the non-striker batsman.
He brought on Adil Rashid and James Anderson. Adil’s first spell was costly, but he bowled well in the second spell. The second ball of the over 72 to Malik was a huge-turner while the second ball of over 74 was a beauty which baffled Misbah. Yasir Shah would have been delighted to witness Adil’s turn had he been playing today.
Impressive Adil Rashid and Cook’s desire to make things happen
In the 72nd over of the day, Cook went from conventional to a bit more innovative thinking. He stepped back from packing the offside field and in turn, engaged more fielders on the legside with Cook himself batting at short mid-on, almost close to the non-striker batsman.
He brought on Adil Rashid and James Anderson. Adil’s first spell was costly, but he bowled well in the second spell. The second ball of the over 72 to Malik was a huge-turner while the second ball of over 74 was a beauty which baffled Misbah. Yasir Shah would have been delighted to witness Adil’s turn had he been playing today.
Adil has been included in the team as the sixth bowler only
to keep the opposition batters at bay and in his second spell, he did that job
quite well. At the other end, James Anderson
was making the ball to move late – coming in and going out. The Anderson-Adil
suffocating bowling and Cook’s intent to make things happen, build the pressure
on the Pakistani batsmen and led to the fall of the key wicket of Misbah,
though the dismissal is supposed to generate a lot of debate.
Thank You
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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