England vs. Pakistan, 4th Test: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Wasim-Akram-c96292 Considers Pakistan Favourites at Lord’s
One of the true greats of the game, former http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 captain and all-rounder Wasim Akram, believes that Pakistan are favourites for the fourth and final Test against England that is set to start at Lord’s tomorrow.
The hosts have a 2-1 lead in the four-match series; however, the last Test was won by Pakistan through a special effort after looking down and out with two resounding defeats in the first two Tests.
Wasim feels that the win in Oval is set to give the tourists a lot of confidence and they would be a real handful especially if the ball swings at the home of cricket, especially with the potency in their seam attack led by Mohammad Asif and Wasim’s protégé, left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Aamer.
The conditions at Lord’s generally suit the faster bowlers, especially if there is cloud cover and even if the wicket flattens out, it should offer something to the slower bowlers and hence off-spinner Saeed Ajmal would stand a good chance of causing further trouble to the hosts, who have thus far failed to respond well to his doosra.
Wasim, who led Pakistan to a 2-0 win in the 1996 Test tour of England, observed that the visiting batting line-up has improved immensely since the arrival of Mohammad Yousuf, who played two crucial knocks in the Oval win.
The bearded batsman was not part of the original squad, yet was brought into the team after a dismal performance by the batsmen in the first two Tests.
The visitors folded for 80 in the second innings at Trent Bridge and followed that by scoring their worst total ever against England in the first innings of the second match at Edgbaston, Birmingham, where they were sent packing for 72 runs.
Wasim spoke to the media in his adopted hometown Karachi where he moved after the sad demise of his wife in Lahore earlier in the year.
The left-armer, rated as one of the finest bowlers of all time, claimed 414 Test wickets for his country besides a bag of more than 500 wickets in the One-Day International format, where he was perched on top of the table for a long time before being taken over by Sri Lankan spin wizard http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Muttiah-Muralitharan-c78157.
He is a renowned commentator now and regularly visits neighbouring http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Knight-c71599 Riders.
When asked about the chances of the Pakistani batsmen at Lord’s, the former captain observed that the tourists struggled when the ball jagged around in their opening Test of the summer against the Australians, and would have to guard against the same when they face the likes of James Anderson, who has been the destroyer-in-chief for his team this series.
Wasim added that while the batting remains frail, the bowling unit has done outstandingly in the series thus far and they can inflict real damage on the hosts through their impressive bowling line-up.
He also praised young fast bowler Wahab Riaz, who made an encouraging start to his Test career claiming 5 wickets in the first innings at Oval. However, Wasim added that the youngster needs to guard against complacency, as bowling at Lord’s can be a real challenge for a youngster, considering the historical significance of the venue as well as the slope that runs across the wicket which makes controlling the ball a tough proposition.
Wasim also praised his former strike partner Waqar Younis, who is the head coach of Pakistan. Wasim thinks that the ‘Burewala Express’ has done wonders to the bowling attack, and his presence was the real reason behind the outstanding performance of the Pakistani bowlers in the Test series.
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