Dubai: Pakistan’s star all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez is a doubtful starter for the second Test against New Zealand commencing on Monday at Dubai International Stadium.
Pakistan skipper Misbah Ul Haq, after a morning training session, said: “Hafeez suffered the hamstring injury during the first Test and we are looking at his fitness and will take a final call early Monday, but we have two good openers in the squad who can be able replacements.”
It seems Pakistan will have a new set of openers with opener Ahmad Shehzad too having been ruled out for the series after he fractured his skull when he was hit by a Corey Anderson bouncer in the first Test during the course of knock of 176 runs.
Misbah candidly admitted that losing Shehzad and Hafeez will be disappointing. “It will be slightly worrying because Shehzad is in good form and Hafeez gives us an extra option of bowling, but we have to face up to such things.”
However, these injuries are good news for New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum. “Shehzad innings against us probably sucked a lot out of us as he batted for such a long period of time. He is not present in this game but we have to make sure others do not perform.”
Pakistan is likely to field a new set of openers in Shan Masood and Taufiq Umar. “At times it is a concern, little bit of concern but we have one opener (Masood) who has done well against South Africa here and the other one is experienced Taufiq Umar and maybe we will miss Shehzad but the other two are also confident,” said Haq.
Speaking about Masood, Misbah said: “He played really well against South Africa and showed talents against the likes of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander. He is hard working and I think all the abilities you can associate with an opener are with him, he can develop into a good batsman.”
Misbah candidly admitted that he is much more relaxed with his batsmen lower down the order too in fine form. “It’s a big boost that batsmen are doing well, the top six are getting good runs and the wicketkeeper at seven is also doing well for the last two three series. So it’s a big sigh of relief, even the inexperienced bowling is doing well.”
Though faced a tough task, McCullum wants his players to enjoy the game as he loves playing in Dubai. “We are not expecting a huge crowd over the next five days but still a wonderful place to play cricket and it is great we are able to play in such sort of conditions and test ourselves. Guys are enjoying Dubai it is a lovely place and we have enjoyed the tour so far and it will be nice to put in some results on it as well to make it something memorable,” said McCullum, who has happy memories of playing in the Indian Premier League here.
“Hopefully we can put on a nice performance to make it more memorable but for the IPL it was outstanding here as the crowds really come out and supported the tournament and supported cricket in this part of the world. It’s great to see game reaching in this part of the world as well and creating an impact,” said McCullum.
