An emotional Abdullah Shafiq said he was relieved to put the “challenges of failure” behind him just 100 years after his victory in two years. Having gone through a long slump following a strong start to Test cricket that once put him on the cusp of becoming the fastest cricketer ever to reach 1,000 Test runs, Shafiq compiled a 253-run stand with captain Shan Masood, in which he managed a sensational century of his own.
“The athlete has to face challenges and go through failure,” Shafiq said. “I am grateful to the team management and the captain for believing in me and giving me a fair experience. You face a lot of mental challenges and a lot of doubts, but you have to overcome all that and perform well.”
Shafiq’s gratitude to his leader is well placed. Pakistan’s impatience with poor form and the speed with which they tend to drop struggling players is well known at this stage. But Masoud, upon assuming leadership of the team, stressed the need for the players to feel safe in the team, strongly calling for maintaining confidence in him.
“Sayme [Ayub] He scored 50 on the last two tests, and if we dropped him after the first test, it would have happened to me; He said, “That’s not nice.” “When I was out of the team for two years, I averaged over 60 in List A cricket, but Imam [ul-Haq-] And pottery [Zaman] They performed constantly. I did not complain about not being selected, because I realized that the level of competition was high. If the coach was supporting the players, they were doing the right thing.”
However, Shafiq realizes that there are ultimately limits to the stamina of Pakistan’s selectors. Since scoring a hundred in the first Test against England two years ago, he has averaged 24.57 in 21 innings; He crossed the mark only five times, and managed to score a hundred and a half-century. With the difficult tour in South Africa over the festive period approaching, he was well aware that he needed to clear his name for his team captain.
“It was a very important day as the first day in the series,” Shafiq said. The whole team understood the value of restraint in attack because that is how the team plays afterwards. It is difficult to hit wickets on a new pitch with a new ball, but the partnership between me and Shan has given the team a big boost.”
After Ayub fell early, Pakistan may have feared another day of investigation with the bat, but Masood took the attack to the England bowlers, with Rida Shafiq playing second fiddle. When the scoreboard started tilting in Pakistan’s favour, there were glimpses of Shafiq’s style and resourcefulness. He brought up his half-century with a six, went from 94 to perhaps 100 with the catch of the day, galloping with elegant pace forward to drive Jack Leach to the long billboards.
“It’s a challenge to bat for so long because of this intense heat in Multan. But you can’t allow yourself to make excuses and keep trying to do what you are asked to do. What matters is how well you take your chance. It’s not just about being able to do it.” The batsman but the whole team feels confident when you do well.”
It seems that Pakistan never lost its confidence in Shafiq. Over the course of two sessions as England’s bowlers toiled in Multan, Shafiq set out to explain why.
