Zulqarnain Haider - the shining light as http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 crumbles again
The second test between Pakistan and England ended with a crushing nine-wicket win for the hosts at Edgbaston Birmingham, as the visitors rued the numerous missed opportunities with the bat and in the field.
After being rolled over for a dismal 72 runs in the first innings, the Pakistani team dropped at least five straightforward chances to allow the hosts a substantial lead that was too much for their limp batting line up in the second innings.
The lower half of the batting line-up led by the wicket-keeper Zulqarnain Haider fought back tremendously to delay the inevitable, and push the test to the fourth day, yet the damage had already been done, and despite the herculean effort by the lower order, the team only succeeded in avoiding an innings defeat.
Furthermore, there were alarming signs for the much touted bowling attack on the fourth day. With the sun out for most part of the day, the Pakistani attack struggled to make the inroads in the English batting line-up, as the wicket had flattened out and the bowlers did not have any lateral movement to speak about.
The last two matches of the four-match test are set to be played at the Oval and Lords in London and the two tracks are going to be a real test for the Pakistani bowlers especially if there is no cloud cover.
There attack has been depleted with the injury to pace man Umar Gul, who has torn a hamstring muscle, which has ruled him out of the remainder of the series, and he is also doubtful for the T20 and One-Day series that follows the test series.
In this gloomy scenario wicket-keeper Zulqarnain Haider has shown the Pakistani batsmen how to play and absorb pressure in test cricket.
The 24-year-old from Lahore who was making his debut in Birmingham survived http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-King-c41197 pair in the second innings to show the world what he is capable of that too after having been given out by the umpire first ball in the second inning, and then escaping through the Umpire Decision Review System, which has arguably saved his career.
After the reprieve, the right-hander gave a tremendous exhibition of test match batting under immense pressure, as he occupied the crease for 200 balls scoring 88 runs in the process.
In the first phase of his innings Zulqarnain was blocking everything coming his way but then got into his groove after crawling to the 30 runs mark.
The right-hander than opened his arms and struck some delightful drives of English spinner Graeme Swann, who claimed six wickets in the second innings as well as the pace trio of James Anderson, Steven Finn and an agitated Stuart Broad, who threw the ball back needlessly at Zulqarnain demonstrating his sheer frustration at the stoic resistance by the batsman.
As a consequence he was hander over a 50 percent match fee fine by International Cricket Council’s match referee Ranjan Madugalle.
Zulqarnain’s vigil ended when he scooped a ball from Swann into the hands of English captain Andrew Strauss stationed at mid-off, the right-hander had by then given his team a sniff of making a dramatic comeback in the match, and more importantly taught a lesson to his beleaguered batsman.
It remains to be seen, as to how much the visiting batsmen have learnt seeing him bat and more importantly if they would be able to replicate his attitude in the last two tests.
However, for now they are in the process of stitching another embarrassing defeat sequence against a test opposition, as England’s win in Birmingham was their fifth consecutive victory over them.
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