“Someone like Cummins won’t give you loose deliveries so you have to create them. He was up to something for me because I was playing well there.”
Daniel is a messenger
No one in Pakistan was surprised when Abdullah Shafiq’s technique withstood scrutiny on the surfaces in Australia, but Pakistan will be relieved to see it for themselves. In Perth, he got off the new ball and stayed at the turn for 36 runs before falling back for 42, albeit an exhausting one. Here in Melbourne, he struck up a more significant partnership with Shan Masood, setting up their 90-run stand. Pakistan is in a strong position before his wicket turns the visitors’ fortunes around.
What was clear was that when Shafiq batted, the surface looked flatter than in any Test match. Even when Marnus Labuschagne took out a 155-ball 63, he found his edges regularly beaten but during Shafiq’s 62, Australia’s chances were high. Once it was disconnected, the life that the tape had ostensibly hidden during this situation came back to the surface.
“When you are in the middle, you get a good view of the bowlers and what they are doing,” Shafiq said in the post-day press conference. “It gets easier at that stage, but as we got out things became more difficult for us. We just wanted to form a good partnership, because we have lacked partnerships with the bat in this series. We just wanted to get ready and start the score going for the team.”
But what happened next may undo much of Pakistan’s hard work. Pat Cummins bowled a ball that he initially pushed, and the ball came flying back to the bowler, whose athletic reflexes led to Shafiq being dismissed. It led to a disastrous start to play for Pakistan, who lost 5 wickets for 46 runs in the next hour.
“As a batting unit, it is painful to lose these wickets back to back,” Shafiq said. “But I hope we can recover with this continued partnership. The conditions here are a lot different compared to Pakistan. Pat Cummins is a good bowler, so you have to take your chances as a batsman. He won’t give you loose deliveries so you have ‘He was planning something for me because I was playing loose.’ “Good there, but I think he’s got a good chance as well.”
Gripping, or the lack thereof, has defined Shafiq’s series almost as much as the bat in his hand. In the first Test, Usman Khawaja’s 126-run stand with David Warner was still in its infancy when he skated to a stand chased down by Shafiq from first slip. He will get there with just enough time to unload and for the momentum to shift even further in Australia’s direction.
If it was tough, the chance of him getting on the turf on the first morning in Melbourne was even more expensive. Warner was only two down in the fourth when Shaheen drew an outside edge that sailed to him at first slip. His line of vision unobstructed and with no distractions to worry him about, Shafiq watched the ball hit his wrist before putting it down, with the duo continuing to put on 90 without loss in conditions that heavily favored bowling.
“No player wants to drop the ball, but that’s part of the game,” he said. “If I had realized this, we would of course be in a better position. We are in the game and look forward to the continued partnership between Mohamed Radwan and Amer Gamal.”
This emerging partnership is the last thing standing between Pakistan and a huge deficit. The duo made 28 counter-attacks, and with Pakistan still on 124 counter-attacks, Shafiq realizes the importance of not falling too far behind in the game.
This is especially true after an encouraging morning session that saw Pakistan take all seven remaining Australian wickets for 131 runs. “As a bowling unit we did well compared to the first Test,” he said. “We played well here.”
They will need to show a similar heart with the bat on the third morning. Unfortunately for the visitors, Shafiq himself is no longer able to help them in these roles.
Daniel Rasool is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent in Pakistan. @danny61000
