• Home
• /
• Cricket

‘Younis played a sensible knock’

DUBAI — South Africa were favourites to win the fourth one-day international against Pakistan, after posting a competitive score of 274 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Friday.

Just a few days ago, Pakistan were two-run short while chasing an even lesser target of 229 at the same wicket. But this Friday, a collective batting effort, guided by a patient half-century from Younis Khan, made the difference. Younis’ partnerships with Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq played a big part in Pakistan’s thrilling one-wicket victory.

Coach Waqar Younis was pretty pleased with Younis’ performance.

“I always feel experience makes a big difference. Younis played an excellent innings. He played a sensible knock. He made sure that the youngsters played well. He guided them and used his experience well,” Waqar told reporters after the match.

The Pakistan coach also praised the 28-run ninth-wicket partnership between Zulqarnain Haider and Wahab Riaz, which turned the tables decisively in Pakistan’s favour. Haider remained not out on 19 from 22 balls while Riaz hit 18 from 10 balls.

“Zulqarnain can bat. He probably doesn’t appear to be the greatest strikers of the ball, but he is the kind of batsman who can nudge the ball and be there. When he went in, all we needed was to keep going and make sure that we play out 50 overs. He did exactly what we needed,” the coach said.

“I am sure that Riaz has got a lot of potential. He can really tonk the ball. Besides he has got pace, which is the key in one-dayers. He bowls good yorkers, which we don’t see many players bowl these days. In the last match and in this one, he pulled the game back although he bowled quite ordinary towards the end.”

The coach said positive attitude of batsmen made the difference in Friday’s match.

“We made sure that we kept the momentum going and ensured that the run-rate shouldn’t climb on us. After the third match, we spoke about lots of things.

“The main thing was to play the full quota of 50 overs and today the tailenders ensured that we did, and that’s why we managed to pull that off. The required run-rate never went out of our reach and that was a good thing.”

Waqar also lauded the bowlers for their performance. “We should give credit to the way the bowlers bowled. At one stage, it seemed that South Africa would get away with 300 or 300 plus. But the bowlers bowled really well and pulled it back to 275.”

Asked about the pitch, Waqar said: “It is only the second game. It was a bit difficult to bat on in the first game. Today it played really well. I am not really sure how it is going to behave in the next one. Three games on one pitch in the span of 5-6 days some times could play tricks.”

The Pakistan coach also termed Friday’s match as “good for the health of one-day cricket.”

“A win is always a boost to the team and now we will try our best to win the series in the last game,” he added.

The final match in the series will be played on Monday.

pradeep@khaleejtimes.com