PAK vs NZ: Naseem Shah sheds light on final moments of second Test
Pakistan closed the day 304/9, 15 runs short of their target
KARACHI: Pakistan's fast bowler and tail-end batter Naseem Shah has said he was aiming to chase the target even when Pakistan was nine wickets down on the last day of the second Test against New Zealand in Karachi.
Pakistan closed the day 304/9, 15 runs short of their target when umpires decided that the light was not enough to continue the game.
Naseem came into bat in the 85th over after Hassan Ali was trapped LBW by Southee and joined senior teammate Sarfaraz Ahmed in middle but Sarfaraz got out in less than two overs.
Shah was then left with Abrar Ahmed to survive till the day end and the pacer did despite New Zealand bringing aggressive and close field placing against them.
The number 10 batsman had also smashed a 6 and a 4 off Michael Bracewell to keep chase hopes alive but he didn’t have enough time.
“I was aiming to chase the target, I was confident that I could do that but I didn’t get enough time. I am happy that we managed to draw the test as well,” he told Geo.
“Pressure was naturally there specially when Sarfaraz got out but I’ve played in such situation before a swell where I had to survive or save the match for the team, I was confident,” he said.
Naseem said that five-day cricket is different from ODIs and T20Is and where you get the result of your five days’ hard work in the last hour of the game and the same happened here against New Zealand.
“It was a very good game of Test cricket, we were positive and everyone was aiming to chase the target,” he said.
“When they had brought fielders closed to me, I saw the scoreboard and thought 25 runs are getable then I attempted to do that, I managed to hit a couple of shots then told their captain that I am going to chase if he continues to keep the same fielding,” Naseem recalled.
The young pacer said that when the fielders were closer, the situation reminded him of his childhood days when he used to play a certain form of cricket “one-tip-out” where a batter is considered out even if he is caught after one bounce.
“I felt like it is the same situation, so I had a similar thing in my mind plus Saqlain Mushtaq had once told me that if you are surrounded by fielders consider that circle is minimized and one good shot can get you some runs, so I had these things in my mind and I kept going,” he concluded.
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