Pakistan's Yasir Shah (R) celebrates taking the wicket of England's Chris Woakes for 23 runs, caught out by Pakistan's Younis Khan on the fourth day of the first Test cricket match between England and Pakistan at Lord's cricket ground in London, on July 17, 2016.
PHOTO: AFP
The win was Pakistan’s first in 20 years at Lords and the performance understandably impressed former leg-spinner Abdul Qadir, who dubbed it a supreme example of team effort.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, the 67-Test veteran credited the entire team for their showing.
Pakistan claim victory over England at Lord's after 20 years
“We played ‘collective cricket’,” he said. “It was a massive team effort, from skipper Misbahul Haq right down right to pacer Rahat Ali.”
Qadir reserved special praise for the captain and the batsmen. “Misbah has got great mental strength and he has been duly rewarded for his hard work and persistence,” he said. “Asad Shafiq’s contribution with the bat was outstanding in both innings. Sarfraz played a key role, not to forget the batting contribution that Yasir Shah made in the second innings with the bat.”
Yasir, who bamboozled the English batsmen in both innings and finished with his first 10-wicket haul, brought back memories of Qadir’s own domination of the ‘masters of the game’.
In 16 Tests against England, Qadir claimed 82 wickets and played a leading role in Pakistan’s first win at Lord’s back in 1982.
“He has bowled brilliantly with impeccable control over his line and length,” said Qadir. “He had a great deal of rhythm, read the pitch perfectly and realised very quickly what was the best way to bowl in England. I can draw parallels with my spell in 1982 at Lord’s.”
Qadir also heaped praise on fast-bowler Rahat, who broke the back of England’s run chase by dismissing England’s top-order with the new ball.
A Lord’s win that took 20 years
“Alastair Cook was a huge wicket for us and soon after Rahat got Joe Root too; these two are England’s backbone and the pressure that the pacers put on the batsmen allowed Pakistan to go through their middle-order with relative ease,” he said.
The 60-year-old added that Rahat’s fine showing with the ball has added pressure on Mohammad Amir, since the returning left-armer generally looked lacklustre.
“We were pinning a lot of hopes on Amir and perhaps that’s the reason he was under such severe pressure,” said Qadir. “Both him and Wahab need to raise their game in the upcoming matches.”
Qadir feels Wahab was a potent force in the second session of the fourth day, where his reverse swing troubled the batsmen; and on a luckier day, Wahab could have collected three wickets, observed Qadir.
Malik Riaz gifts £50,000 to Pakistan team for Lord's victory
“Wahab, it seems, was under pressure too but he bowled well before and after tea, and it looked like a fine spell where he put his heart into his bowling,” said Qadir. “His reverse swing ability is really good and I feel he was unlucky. He could have taken three wickets in that spell alone and wrapped up the game.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2016.
Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
1731916090-0/sabrina-(3)1731916090-0-165x106.webp "article")
1732000633-0/Express-Tribune-(3)1732000633-0-270x192.webp "pcb refuses to accept mohammad yousuf s resignation")
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ