Wahab bowled his heart out against England: Yasir Arafat

Pakistan all-rounder says its not easy for pacers to deal with hot and soaring temperatures in UAE

Pakistan all-rounder Yasir Arafat believes left-arm paceman Wahab Riaz bowled with great determination in the first Test against UAE on a pitch which offered nothing to the fast-bowlers.

“While there is understandable criticism of the pitch in the way it offered no assistance for the fast-bowlers, I would like to mention Wahab Riaz’s excellent effort during this match in which he was reverse swinging the ball at will,” Yasir wrote in his blog for PakPassion.

“We all saw that one spell he bowled to Ben Stokes but if you look at his overall effort, you will see that he bowled around 90mph throughout which given the circumstances was really impressive.

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“He bowled his heart out in the first innings with 37 overs for 125 runs which may not sound too good but he is an attacking bowler and runs don’t matter as long as he is taking wickets which he did for Pakistan.”

Yasir also talked about how other pacers in the UAE dealt with the slowness of the pitch.

“Of the other bowlers, Rahat Ali is a wicket to wicket type bowler who can swing the ball as well. Obviously on this wicket he wasn’t as successful. I am convinced that if the conditions were even a little more helpful for swing, Rahat would have been a handful with the new ball,” he wrote.

“Imran Khan is also not dissimilar but the difference is that he moves the ball off the wicket instead of being a swing bowler. He bowls with a lot of energy but once again on this wicket he wasn’t that effective. Even Stuart Broad and James Anderson were bowling with the keeper up which is an indication of the pace of the pitch.”

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The 33-year-old also explained the draining conditions in which a bowler has to deliver in the hot and soaring UAE temperature.

“Pakistan must be breathing a sigh of relief after their near miss in Abu Dhabi and regardless of the drama on the final day, as a fast bowler I can tell you that bowling in those conditions is not an easy task,” elucidated Yasir.

“Not only do the fast bowlers have to come to terms with dead tracks, but they also have to learn to deal with the extreme temperatures in the UAE which in these months can get up to 40°C during the day. This is tough for the fast bowlers but remember the spinners suffered as well, with the first spinner taking a wicket towards the end of the second day.

“In England’s innings, six of the wickets were picked up by the fast bowlers. So all in all, it was very depressing to see such a wicket with little help for the bowlers except, of course, on the last day.

Yasir also dissected Test captain Misbaul Haq and veteran batsman Younus Khan’s partnership and their uncharacteristic shots to get out on day five of the first Test.

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“We witnessed an excellent partnership between Misbah and Younis but it appears that they had a lapse in their concentration and played some uncharacteristic shots to lose their wickets at a crucial time.

“It looked as if they assumed that the match was safe and they had done their part and relaxed a bit. But from experience, we know we should never make such assumptions. The Pakistan tail then collapsed quite badly with very few runs scored by the last five batsmen which compounded Pakistan’s misery.

Yasir was also critical of Pakistan’s defensive strategy in the first Test due to the absence of in-form leg-spinner Yasir Shah.

“Hindsight is a great thing but one question that does come up is whether with the absence of Yasir Shah, Pakistan went into a defensive mode for most parts of the game. I don’t subscribe to that theory.

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“The number of runs scored by us in the first innings shows that the absolute opposite was true. All that happened was that in the second innings, we showed some lack of application and commitment and we almost paid the price for that attitude. To be fair, there was hardly any spin on the track until the fourth day and in terms of our bowling, we really had no attacking options apart from Wahab Riaz.”

Yasir further added that Azhar Ali and Yasir’s return to the team will give Pakistan a much needed psychological boost for the second Test in Dubai which starts from October 22.