DUBAI // Trust Misbah-ul-Haq to apply some sense.
This victory for Pakistan's have-a-go-heroes over Australia at the Dubai International Stadium was one for the ages. It deserves to be celebrated.
but, according to the captain, it does not even rank among the best at this ground, let alone one of Pakistan’s greatest achievements.
“It’s difficult to rank this win, but it is one of the finest victories, especially in Test cricket,” said Misbah, the Pakistan captain, in the aftermath of the stunning 221 win.
“I always rank 3-0 against England [in 2012] at the top but after that, this is a big achievement, for me also as captain.”
Shorn of any players of repute because of the usual litany of factors – injury, chucking, that sort of thing – Pakistan should not have stood a hope in this match.
At its start, Sarfraz Ahmed, Ahmed Shahzad, Zulfiqar Babar, Yasir Shah and Imran Khan had 15 Test appearances between them.
Yet, collectively, they accounted for two seminal centuries and 17 Australian wickets across the five days of the match.
It was Babar who was the star on Day 5 with a match-winning, five-wicket haul in just his third Test match. That was worth waiting the best part of 36 years for.
“Zulfiqar was exceptional,” Misbah said. “If you are determined, age doesn’t matter.”
It continues Pakistan’s unbeaten record in series at the UAE’s new venues, and Misbah is demanding they maintain their standards.
“We will try to do this again [in Abu Dhabi], try to focus more and we are determined not to be lazy, which we do sometimes,” the captain said. “We don’t want to be like that against a team like Australia. They are always there, always looking for opportunity. So we have to be focused.”
Pakistan only showed evidence of their inexperience in this game when a few nerves surfaced as victory moved within touching distance.
Zulfiqar saw three catches dropped off his bowling when Australia were seven wickets down.
Misbah’s, close in on the off-side off a blistering drive by Steve Smith, was forgivable.
Shahzad’s, on the boundary rope, and Yasir’s, at square leg, both off errant sweep shots by Mitchell Johnson, were less so.
Although the drops counted for nothing in the end, the fight shown by Smith and Johnson will have given Australia some semblance of belief ahead of the trip to the capital.
“Any time we lose a game, it breeds fire in your belly,” said Michael Clarke, the Australia captain, who added that he can turn around his own form having made just five runs over the course of the match.
“We don’t like losing.
“Australians in general don’t like losing.
“We have a couple of days to prepare as well as we can and we will look forward to that second Test match.
“We know we were outplayed and Pakistan deserve a lot of credit for the way they played over the whole five days.
“We know we can play a lot better and we look forward to showing that in the second Test match.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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