Dubai: Zulfiqar Babar who returned with figures of 4 for 137 is confident that if his team can take a lead, Pakistan can go for the kill.
“The way the pitch behaves we have to bat really well on this track and get a good lead then it will be little bit difficult for whoever bats last. The pitch will deteriorate a bit and turn and so we are hopeful to get as many runs as possible. A first innings total of over 500 will be very helpful,” said Babar who has produced two five wicket hauls against Australia last month in the UAE.
Babar attributes his success to the other bowlers in his team.
“I have got the confidence from the fast bowlers because whenever they are required to attack they attacked. Similarly [leg spinner] Yasir Shah’s performance too has given me a lot of confidence. Whenever he wants to attack he attacked and whenever he wants to contain he contained the runs. So overall I am very appreciative of my bowlers although most of them are new. In fact, Ehsan [Adil] did not play for a long time and even Shah hardly had played three Test matches before this match. It is a very positive sign that though they are very new they bowled very well.”
Momentum
Thirty-five year-old Babar even admitted that playing continuous Test matches has not made him tired. “I don’t have any fatigue because the way we are performing has given me the momentum and I am feeling fit.”
New Zealand wicketkeeper Bradley Watling who hit 39 runs and helped his team to an impressive total said: “After losing two wickets early we are happy we could consolidate and put on a decent first inning total. It is a good effort from Mark Craig and I feel the total of 400 is very decent one. To pick up a couple of wickets was very pleasing. It was a very good day indeed.”
Watling also revealed it wasn’t easy to bat on. “To get 400 wasn’t easy because they bowled reasonably well and our tail did a good job to get us there. Ish [Sodhi] seems to be batting very well and his 30 not out was very crucial. We would have always liked to score more runs but it wasn’t an easy game there as spinners were tough to get away. So it was a bit of a grind and we had to wait for the balls and take the bowlers deep as possible and put them under a bit of pressure. To get over 130 runs from the tail was crucial and that put us in a decent position but still there is a lot of hard work to be done in the next few days. Tomorrow is a big day for us to try and push this Test match forward,” he said.
