England v Pakistan, 1st Test, Lord's, Day 2 - Brilliant Yasir Shah

20 years ago I watched Mushtaq Ahmed to fetch five wickets in the second innings against England at Lord’s and since then, no legspinner has achieved this feat at the Mecca of cricket. Not even the great Shane Warne was privileged enough to achieve this. Time moved on and Lord’s witnessed many bowlers to achieve five-wicket hauls, but a leggie was yet to register his name on the honours board.

I was a student of class ten and that victory boosted the morale of Pakistan team who finished the year 1996 on a high after a scratchy start. The brilliance of Inzamam-ul-Haq and Saeed Anwar with the bat, the hostility of Waqar Younis and the craft of Mustaq were a great experience for me as a cricket fan.

In those days I dreamed, one day Bangladesh would also play Test cricket at Lord’s and glorify the Mecca of cricket. 14 years later Tamim Iqbal did glorify the great ground, but the Tigers failed to win the Test match.

20 years later, I am privileged to witness another legspinner fetch five wickets at Lord’s and the way he changed the course of the game, simply is a legacy which this Pakistan team has been carrying on since their introduction to international cricket. No other team in world cricket changes its colour like Pakistan. No other team in world cricket will make cricket more uncertain than Pakistan.

The partnership between Alastair Cook and Joe Root was well set, while the Pakistan bowlers seemed to drop their shoulders a bit. Luck was favouring Alastair Cook as he cashed in on the luck and some poor bowling by the Pakistani pacers to race to a half century. But at the other end, Root was playing the role of a stabilizing agent. He looked more dangerous as a run-accumulator and his wicket was much needed to unsettle England as their middle-order was not solid.

Just when Root started to flourish more, he executed a lackadaisical stroke against Yasir Shah and immediately Pakistan were back on track. Yasir went on to bag four more wickets to register his name on the Lord’s honours board.

Yasir has been outstanding with the ball today. His control was too tough to handle while his drift, wrong-uns, flippers and faster-deliveries left England batsmen clueless. The focus was on Mohammad Amir so much that they all forgot, at the moment, Yasir is the go-to-man of this Pakistan team. Today’s feat is an indicator of how good this bowler is. You don’t earn praise from someone like Shane Warne so easily, do you?

Thank You

Faisal Caesar