Our hard work has paid off

It was great to turn our fortunes around by dint of our hard work. Moments after the defeat in Multan, our team was back on the pitch for a ...

It was great to turn our fortunes around by dint of our hard work. Moments after the defeat in Multan, our team was back on the pitch for a long stint at the nets. We continued that on reaching Lahore and kept telling ourselves that we had to win in a do-or-die situation.

I am glad some of our youngsters made significant contributions to our victory. There was a splendid effort by so many of them to stand up and be counted in a big series.

A lot of the spotlight has been trained on the criticism we received after the loss in Multan. I sometimes don’t understand the criteria for such criticism but have learnt to deal with the additional pressures that such criticism, particularly by former cricketers, brings on us.

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It may sound romantic that the strong reactions spurred us on but the fact is that we wanted to win and worked hard for that.

It was a different wicket and it was nice to see our bowlers challenge the formidable Indian batsmen with sensible line and length attack. The young Umar Gul sparked the revival with a fine spell on the opening day, taking five wickets for very little. It is a pity that he is injured and will not be around in the final Test.

Imran Farhat did play a super innings but, with a bit more experience, he will learn to build a Test hundred into a big one. It was nice to be able to share another good stand with Inzibhai, who played a lovely innings. Asim Kamal played a fine innings at No. 6. He made a good 73 under pressure, ensuring that we had a lead of over 200 runs in the first innings.

No praise will be too high for the hard work turned in by Mohammad Sami. He bowled 17 overs on the trot without so much as a murmur in the heat. It needed an extra effort since Gul was not 100 per cent fit owing to his back strain suffered during his dream spell in the first innings. Since we could bowl Shoaib Akhtar in short bursts, Sami was given the task of being the stock bowler and he delivered well.

(TCM)