Wellington, December 05: Sometimes it pays to play Test cricket as it has been played for the majority of its existence. Men such as Virender Sehwag and Tillakaratne Dilshan may be the way of the future, but it is comforting to know that there is still a space for batsmen like Mohammad Yousuf, prepared to grind out a result.
Yousuf stood firm until just before tea on the third day, and with help in different shades and degrees from Umar Akmal and Misbah-ul-Haq, took Pakistan to a dominant position in Wellington.
But a two-wicket burst from Grant Elliott sparked a Pakistan collapse and ensured the position wasn’t entirely unassailable and just reward for New Zealand fighting back after lunch. They picked up seven wickets in the second session, perking up considerably as Pakistan fell from 197 for 3 just after lunch to 239 all out. Realistically, however, even with the pitch at its best for batting, chasing down over 405, will require, bluntly, a miracle.
Importantly, Yousuf the captain, led Pakistan in the best way he can. The decision to send Umar in at No. 3 in the first innings was abominable, but atonement was at hand this time round as the captain, fittingly, walked in at one-drop at a sketchy time yesterday evening. The morning session was of a kind Pakistan can really do more with, if only for the element of serenity Yousuf’s batting instills into an easily-panicked batting order. Pace and spin was hurled at him and he remained unmoved.
He was tested early morning by a fairly spirited and energetic assault on his body and head, particularly by Daryl Tuffey. Occasionally he was hurried, as when top-edging a pull, or taking a blow on his chest swaying out of the way of another. But mostly he repelled the attack in much the manner an elephant might swat away flies around him. And by the time he was expertly riding the bounce and guiding Tuffey through gully, he had won the first battle: Tuffey was off a couple of overs later.
Daniel Vettori came on and immediately settled into bowling maidens like he was Errol Flynn. But Yousuf was unrushed, biding his time, knowing that the best part of three days were still left. A run of four scoreless overs was broken by a fine sweep for two, a skipped beat essentially, in the normal tempo of things. Misbah at first had been a sturdy foil, even more content if possible to lay back and build run by run, minute by minute. Gradually, over the course of a sleepy hour and a half, he established a nice rhythm, running well and picking off singles adroitly.
The beauty of Yousuf shone through, however, after Misbah’s dismissal and the arrival of the young, fearless and very modern Umar. He watched idly as Umar played what appeared to be a different game to the batsmen around him. Immediately he was at it; in a blaze of daring, stamping himself all over New Zealand. In the half hour to lunch, a traditional preserve of caution, he twice smote Vettori for massive sixes, cutting and pulling him for afters. Yousuf reached a sedate half-century in the over before lunch, by which time Umar was already on 39 and Test-match batting, in all its wonderful shades, was on display.
By the fourth over after lunch, Umar was treating the whole thing like a net session, swinging away at Chris Martin like a scorned wife and bringing up his half-century off 32 balls. Impetuosity got him immediately and New Zealand, suddenly, had reason to live. Vettori suddenly and surprisingly tricked Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal into believing that Elliott was Glenn McGrath; for the former there may not be many more chances.
Thereafter, New Zealand really ran in, taking cue from Elliott’s fuller lengths and the first team ever perhaps, buoyed by the prospect of a 400-run-plus Test chase (as opposed to the 500-plus it looked at one stage). Yousuf, unperturbed by Umar’s buffeting and the subsequent loss of wickets, initially navigated his way through carefully, picking up only three boundaries in the afternoon session. Just when it appeared he might be settling in for a farming-the-tail century, he ran into a rejuvenated Martin. New ball in hand, he hit the fuller length both he and Tuffey had ignored in the morning and trapped Yousuf in front. Iain O’Brien, the pick of the bowling, wrapped it up, ending with four wickets and just reward for bowling a consistently more intelligent length.
——Agencies