The last day of the Abu Dhabi test match brushed away all
the criticism it earned regarding the dullness of the track and the way the
match was progressing towards a boring draw. But thanks to the Pakistani batsmen,
Alastair Cook’s impressive captaincy and some brilliant bowling by the English
pacers, the Test match burst into life.
Poor show
by the Pakistani batsmen
The Pakistani batsmen dug their own graves. Shan Masood’s lackluster
approach to defend a ball, Mohammad Hafeez’s carefree attempt to reach the non-striker’s
end, which resulted in a silly run out, Younis Khan’s silly shot against Adil
Rashid, Asad Shafiq’s poor shot against the same bowler and Misbah’s
uncharacteristic stroke-play helped a lot to make this Test match a memorable
one.
Alastair Cook’s impressive field placement
As soon as Alastair Cook witnessed the fall of quick wickets, he shunned the conventional way of placing his fields men. I applaud his ploy to make things happen by setting an umbrella field on the leg side and advised his pacers to bring the ball back into the batsmen either by moving it late or by delivering the off-cutters and occasionally bowling those which leaves the batsmen only to flummox them.
Alastair Cook’s impressive field placement
As soon as Alastair Cook witnessed the fall of quick wickets, he shunned the conventional way of placing his fields men. I applaud his ploy to make things happen by setting an umbrella field on the leg side and advised his pacers to bring the ball back into the batsmen either by moving it late or by delivering the off-cutters and occasionally bowling those which leaves the batsmen only to flummox them.
This piece of captaincy is a lesson for the subcontinental
batters who goes defensive very easily on dead tracks.
James Anderson’s bouncer to Shoaib Malik
In my book that was the ball of the day. James Anderson’s previous delivery kept low, but from nowhere he bowled a vicious short-pitch stuff which left Shaoib Malik clueless and if you don’t have the skill to make the ball bounce then you can never dish out such a volatile delivery on dead tracks. That was a ripper of a delivery from Jimmy!
Adil Rashid bagged a 5-er but Moeen Ali impressed me more
I am not ready to agree that Adil Rashid bowled very well today, but in my opinion, Moeen Ali looked more dangerous. The Pakistani batters gifted Adil the wickets and only once in this match, I felt Adil can be a very good bowler in the future. On day 1, from over 72 to 82, Adil bowled a very impressive spell to test both Malik and Misbah, but later on he lost his vim and was punished severely by Malik. With due respect to Adil, he should be thankful to the Pakistani batters.
The track offered slow turn and Moeen’s finger spin was posing a big threat. He didn’t bag that much wickets but certainly they were enough to put Pakistan on the back foot.
Pakistan’s lucky escape
England were all set to gift Pakistan the memories of Karachi 2000 but thankfully, a fascinating day of Test match cricket ended in a draw. I was citing yesterday day the Pakistanis should be very careful against this English team who are determined enough to win. Had there been more time left, England would have taken a 1-0 lead and they rightly deserved that.
James Anderson’s bouncer to Shoaib Malik
In my book that was the ball of the day. James Anderson’s previous delivery kept low, but from nowhere he bowled a vicious short-pitch stuff which left Shaoib Malik clueless and if you don’t have the skill to make the ball bounce then you can never dish out such a volatile delivery on dead tracks. That was a ripper of a delivery from Jimmy!
Adil Rashid bagged a 5-er but Moeen Ali impressed me more
I am not ready to agree that Adil Rashid bowled very well today, but in my opinion, Moeen Ali looked more dangerous. The Pakistani batters gifted Adil the wickets and only once in this match, I felt Adil can be a very good bowler in the future. On day 1, from over 72 to 82, Adil bowled a very impressive spell to test both Malik and Misbah, but later on he lost his vim and was punished severely by Malik. With due respect to Adil, he should be thankful to the Pakistani batters.
The track offered slow turn and Moeen’s finger spin was posing a big threat. He didn’t bag that much wickets but certainly they were enough to put Pakistan on the back foot.
Pakistan’s lucky escape
England were all set to gift Pakistan the memories of Karachi 2000 but thankfully, a fascinating day of Test match cricket ended in a draw. I was citing yesterday day the Pakistanis should be very careful against this English team who are determined enough to win. Had there been more time left, England would have taken a 1-0 lead and they rightly deserved that.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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