There’ll probably be better days in Saud Shakeel’s career when he doesn’t have to find ways to ‘fit in’. He would hope his knock in Pakistan’s World Cup opener against Netherlands – a 52-ball 68 – would be the start of that.
Despite an 81-run win to kickstart their World Cup campaign on Friday, it was a far-from-perfect show for Pakistan, especially with the bat. They were restricted to 286, which Mohammad Rizwan claims the team was confident was going to be a winning total. However, given the scores around the range of 350 being notched up at the same venue over the two warm-up matches in the last week, it was well below par and one that made their opponents feel quite happy with their bowling performance.
Shakeel walked out to bat when Pakistan were in dire straits. Fakhar Zaman had yet again fallen to the full, swinging delivery – this time chipping the ball back to the bowler. Imam-ul-Haq registered another low score, while Babar Azam pulled Colin Ackermann’s innocuous delivery straight to the mid wicket fielder, reducing the side to 38 for 3 in the 10th over.
For Shakeel, batting at No.5, the opportunity presented itself – to make an impression when the team was in trouble, with ample overs to play. Despite a nervy start, he led Pakistan’s revival with a counter-attacking half-century and a 120-run stand for the fourth wicket with Mohammad Rizwan which set the base for Pakistan’s total of 287.
“There were nerves. But I was lucky that I found a few odd boundaries. Sometimes it happens that you find such boundaries, it makes it easier for you. I was clear in my mind that I wanted to attack and play positive cricket. Rizwan bhai‘s role was to go long but my plan was simple. I had focused on a few bowlers of the Netherlands. If I had to hit from above, I would take a chance. I did that. I took a chance. I was trying to stay positive and kept attacking the bowlers I had targeted,” Shakeel said about his knock.
In the recently concluded Asia Cup, he was used primarily as a back-up for Agha Salman, who offered additional bowling skills. However, he made a strong impression with a classy 53-ball 75 in Pakistan’s first World Cup warm-up clash against New Zealand. With Pakistan fielding five frontline bowlers already in the XI and the additional part-time option of Iftikhar Ahmed to use, they opted to go for Shakeel ahead of Salman even though the former didn’t get a chance to play the second warm-up.
However, he admits, “I knew sometime back that I would play this match. I played a warm-up match and I had good batting there.”
A free-flowing left-hander, the 28-year-old southpaw’s limited overs career has not really taken off. Having made his debut more than two years ago, he had managed to feature in only six ODIs before the World Cup. His selection in the 50-over side itself had come at the back of his impressive form in Test cricket, as a means to fix the middle order woes. But a switch in format necessitated a bit of batting evolution.
“I think it [Test cricket]is the most difficult format, you know that. So, when you perform well there, you gain a lot of confidence,” Shakeel said after his match-winning performance on Friday. “I think I performed very well in the Test matches, so my confidence level was very high.
“But at the same time, I was focusing a lot on my white-ball cricket. I was focusing a lot on my game. I could see that my numbers for playing for Pakistan were 5-6 (batting order). Babar Azam plays at 3 and Rizwan plays at 4. I tried to develop my game and worked hard for it. A person has a vision and works hard for it. I tried the same. I could see that I am not playing much One-Day cricket, not much white-ball domestic cricket in Pakistan in which I can prove my point. But at the same time, when I played Test match cricket for Sri Lanka, I showed that I am ready for white-ball cricket.
“It (the adjustments needed to bat at No 5 and 6) was more of a mindset change. A few years back I never used to hit big shots like this, I didn’t take many chances. I preferred to play on the ground. But I made my mindset that I have to accept one thing – the number at which you’re going to play for Pakistan. It is very important to realise that as a player. So, I made my game plan accordingly… I practised playing sweeps and reverse sweeps.
“I tried to adapt and I think the best thing is that we came to India to play the World Cup. It’s really good here. If you settle here, you get the value of your shots. So, I think that’s in my mind. And I try to stay in good shape and keep my technique so that I don’t make shots that are too hard and I’m succeeding in that.”
