Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Monday phoned Misbah-ul-Haq, captain of Pakistan Test Cricket and congratulated him on the victory of Pakistan cricket team in the fourth Test match against England at The Oval.
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“It’s really tough to recover from two heavy defeats (in the second and third tests) but it shows the character of the team”, Misbah said.
Pakistan’s Misbahul Haq and England’s Alastair Cook pose with the trophy after the Test at the Oval in London Sunday.
That left Pakistan needing just 40 to win after excellent hundreds by man-of-the-match Younis Khan (218) and Asad Shafiq (109) had helped them compile a commanding first-innings total of 542.
England, now leading the series 2-1, have a chance of reaching no. 1 in the test rankings, provided India do not win their last 2 test matches away against the West Indies. “It’s a fair result (of the series) in the end”.
Solid partnerships between Gary Ballance (17), Jonny Bairstow (81) and Moeen Ali (32) gave England hope, but once again they lost quick wickets at crucial times.
England resumed in trouble at 88 for four, 126 runs adrift, after Yasir had ripped through the top order with three for 15 late on Saturday.
Stokes has been sidelined with knee and calf injuries this season while Wood has undergone two ankle operations since last playing for England in a Test against Pakistan in Dubai in October.
ENGLAND (1st Innings) 328 (Moeen Ali 108, J.M. Bairstow 55, C.R. Woakes 45; Sohail Khan 5-68, Wahab Riaz 3-93).
Pakistan nonchalantly knocked off their target without losing a wicket to complete, what should rank as, one of their finest ever wins away from home.
But he spells out that big runs in sixth and seventh-wicket stands should be merely the “icing on the cake”, not a necessity.
Marsh was batting undefeated on 64 including 10 boundaries with Smith on 61 with a six and five boundaries.
“It’s too early to say [about retirement], let’s see”.
Chandimal was caught behind after facing 356 balls and hitting 13 boundaries and a six.
“Consistently over the summer, we haven’t scored enough runs at the top of the order”.
“With the spin, Mo has done a fantastic job for us since he came into the side as a batter who bowled a bit – and he s had to share a lot of responsibility to do that as part of a five-man attack”.
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“I think when you haven’t done it at Test level you always doubt yourself whether you’re good enough to do it, but when you have done it you have that self belief”. Their partnership lasted almost 5-1/2 hours.
