Our bowlers redeemed themselves after Karachi

It was nice to see Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammed Sami cast aside memories of Karachi and deliver good performances in Rawalpindi, even though there was nothing in the wicket for the fast bowlers. It was the slower bowlers who caused some doubts since their deliveries stopped a bit.

After Shahid Afridi and Yasir Hamid had set us off to a great start, I was out to one such ball from Yuvraj Singh, the ball going past me after I had completed my shot. Inzamam and I failed to build on good scores and we were worried that the run-rate had dropped but Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik played well.

We know that we have to raise tall scores to be able to set a good challenge for the Indian batsmen. We know their batting is their real strength and want to be able to support our bowlers with the good scores. Inshallah, we shall continue to do that like we did in Rawalpindi. Yet, even scores in excess of 325 don’t seem safe these days.

Sachin Tendulkar played a fantastic innings. We all know that he is a great player and he showed it again by playing a splendid knock at a run-a- ball pace. As long as he was at the wicket, the game hinged on a balance but when he was caught in the deep, we knew we could get into the driver’s seat. Romesh Powar and L Balaji got a few runs in the end and took India close but we knew that with Shoaib Akhtar and Sami bowling well, we had the upper hand.

Shahid Afridi showed that Pakistani players have it in them to come back to the national team after a year and perform with intensity. Pakistan’s players are fighters and Shahid Afridi proved that with a pleasing allround show that has allowed us to go in to the next match, aware that we have a variety of bowling options.

(TCM)