Pakistan’s recent test form has been simply phenomenal. Led by the rousing Misbah Ul Haq, the Asian side has been a power house in test cricket since the last 30 months. They are yet to lose a test series in UAE, since it became their temporary “home”. After some great outings in the Gulf, the Pakistanis are desperate to win the third test against England, in order to get to the second position in the ICC Test Rankings, only behind South Africa.
Pakistani spinner Zulfiqar Babar said that the mood in the camp was upbeat and Misbah’s boys were willing to outperform England in the third test. “The mood is confident and we want to win the match so that we can take the series and rise in rankings,” Babar told the media in a recent conversation.
Babar also admitted that Mahela Jayawardene’s presence in the English camp as a batting consultant was making Pakistan’s job a tad tougher. “It’s tough bowling against them because England are here well prepared so we have to use our variety,” said Babar. “They have come here well prepared and they employed Jayawardene as batting consultant, so they must have learnt good things from him, so we need to be one step ahead of them to get more success,” said Babar.
Babar looked back on the first couple of tests and said, “It was tough to get them in the first Test but then I realised that we can get the left hander by bowling in the rough and that gave me success.” “It was difficult to be without Yasir and I missed him but Shoaib Malik also bowled well and in the second Test in Dubai Yasir came back and I enjoyed bowling with him. At times he contained and I attacked, and then he attacked and I contained, so you only get success when you contain and I will always do my part to help the team win.”