Abu Dhabi: International cricket, they say, is all about adapting to situations. In Azhar Ali’s case, however, it seems like his skills are a perfect fit for one role but used for another anyway.
Moving Pakistan’s prolific scorer from the opening slot was a huge gamble, especially when he had scored 1,198 runs in 11 Tests, including an unbeaten triple hundred against the West Indies in Dubai and a fighting unbeaten double against Australia in Melbourne, last season.
But Ali has so far passed the test with flying colours batting at No 3. His unbeaten 74 off 200 deliveries took Pakistan to 266 for four in 112.4 overs after Babar Azam (28) was out caught behind off Nuwan Pradeep in the final over of the third day of the first Test at the Shaikh Zayed Cricket Stadium on Saturday. Pakistan still trail Sri Lanka by 153 runs with six wickets in hand.
Pakistan has tried the most number of batting combinations at the top of the order in Tests in the last five years — 16 in all in 41 matches, with England coming next with 14 batting pairs as they search for the right partner for Alastair Cook. Pakistan perhaps have found the right one in openers Shan Masood and Sami Aslam as the duo did well with the challenge thrown at them — at least for now.
Both southpaws, resuming the innings on 62 for no loss, gelled well and continued to play with relentless ease but the stage offered can’t be termed as testing. On an irresponsive wicket which had little for the bowlers, the duo had got a solid start but should have gone on to convert it into a big partnership.
Their first wicket partnership of 114 off 267 balls spanning 185 minutes was very much noteworthy in the context of the game. The critics, however, would still mull over their promotion and will wait for their second innings batting to give their verdict. More so as the duo could only maintain a run rate of 1.90 from 30 overs.
After scoring a vigilant 51 off 130 deliveries, Aslam was unlucky to get out leg before to a delivery from off-spinner Dilruwan Perera that had stayed low. He had to walk back following a review as the English umpire Nigel Llong had initially given him not out.
A ball later, Llong was again reversing his decision, this time after giving the newly-arrived batsman, Azhar, out trapped on the back foot off Perera. The Ultra Edge showed a disturbance when the ball passed the bat, Llong’s decision-making clearly coming under the radar as it was the third time he had to change his verdict. During the Sri Lanka innings too, he had to reverse a leg before decision of the ton-up man Dinesh Chandimal, when the latter was on 58.
Despite that lifeline to Azhar, the Sri Lankans had their tail up with Herath getting rid of the other well-set opener Masood (59 off 148 balls), soon after. It was poor shot selection to say the least from Masood — out bowled attempting a pre-meditated sweep leaving all his stumps exposed. Earlier, too, Herath had induced an edge of Masood in his first over of the day, but that chance was spilled at slips by Dimuth Karunaratne.
Pakistan would have slipped further before lunch, had television umpire Ahsan Raza not saved Asad Shafiq from a contentious stumping decision of a wrong’un from chinaman bowler Lakshan Sandakan. Post-lunch, Shafiq and Azhar set about the repair job with greater caution. Azhar, in his 115 innings from 61 Tests, became the fourth-fastest Pakistan batsman to reach 5,000 runs (Younis Khan being the quickest at 106 innings) when he reached 32.
Shafiq, promoted to No. 4, was gaining in confidence but his surge was cut short on 39 after he chased a delivery moving away off the pitch from Herath to hand a regulation catch for Lahiru Thirimanne at slips.
On another day of struggle for the bowlers, Herath had figures of two for 47 from 25 overs while Perera settled for 1 for 48 from 24 and Sandakan was unlucky to be wicket-less from his 28 overs. Pacer Pradeep, having got the wicket in the last over, had something to cheer towards the end with figures of 16.4-1-44-1.
