England v Pakistan, 2nd Test, Edgbaston, Day 2 - Impressive Sami Aslam

What a day it had been for Pakistan! Despite losing Mohammad Hafeez, the men in green didn’t panic, but utilized the helpful conditions very well to end the day with smiles. Azhar Ali fought hard to surpass his terrible lean patch and ended up scoring 139 runs, which included two lives – on 38 and 69 he was dropped by Joe Root and Moeen Ali – but these things are part of the game and finally, a senior top order batsman from Pakistan had shone brightly.

Azhar was very good on the offside and I must say, England delivered the ball according to his strength. Most of his runs came via drives through the offside, whereas, at Lord’s and Oltrafford, the middle-and-leg stump line troubled him more. The English bowlers just could not pitch it the way they did on the previous ocassions and thus, Azhar made the English bowlers toil hard on a tiery day.

But I was heavily impressed with Sami Aslam. I never thought, a 20-year old was batting out there. This boy has such a fantastic knowledge about his offstump and the way he was leaving the ball it seemed, he is a seasoned customer. Sami has a very good defense. While he blocks the ball, I could not notice any gap between bat and pad and his strokes are mostly defensive – pushes, nudges and drives. Was I watching a left-handed Rahul Dravid?

Sami plays the ball late. If you noticed, he goes backward, allows the ball to come into his body more and then contacts the bat and ball so late, and one thing I must say, he is a splendid timer of the ball. Most of his shots were from the middle part of the bat and the initial backward movement – which is his trigger movement – helps him to create ample time to play his strokes.

I can comment about his footwork after watching him play on pace bowling friendly wickets, but he is surely a blessed player against the spinners. He uses his feet so well and those down the wicket shots against Moeen Ali hinted how confident this guy is while playing against spin bowling.

Sami is more about composure than the rush of blood. I think, finally, Pakistan have discovered a batsman who can be ideal to inject stability to this unstable Pakistani batting line-up. I hope, Pakistan doesn’t waste this talent, like the promising young lads of the past.  

Thank You

Faisal Caesar