DUBAI - The pacy deliveries of leg-spinner Yasir Shah raised many eyebrows on his debut Test and little was noticed about the variation he offered later in the innings but as soon as he took the wicket of Dave Warner on a wonderful delivery, he is under the radar of cricket pundits and critics as a new big thing and heir of the rich spin heritage of the country.
He came round the wicket; hit the deck way outside of off stump and the ball angled into the stumps sharply. Warner went on backfoot tried to bring his bat in the line but spin was too sharp for him to handle despite spending a long time on the pitch and scoring a century. He was clean bowled. The delivery prompted Shane Warne to show his liking for the variations of Yasir on Twitter and that was enough for the Swabi-born leg-spinner to come under the limelight.
Warne was impressed but Warner was not. Warner was quite itchy and looked offended when he was asked about the delivery that got him out as he retorted that he hit all the bowlers and scored against them and it was just a bad judgment that cost him his wicket. However, Yasir was quite delighted for his performance and with the wicket of Warner as it came at the right time when the team needed the breakthrough. He said his plan was very simple: to bowl at a specific spot with controlled line and length, which has worked for him.
With 279 wickets under his belt in 76 first class matches, to someone it looked a little late for him to come into the fray of the Test cricket but Yasir is quite contended. “I am just 28 years old and I am happy that selectors have given me chance. I was waiting for this chance since long though as it is every player’s dream to play Test cricket. I just wanted to avail the opportunity and by the Grace of Allah I was able to perform.” Yasir was delighted about the Warne’s Tweet and said he started leg-break bowling after being impressed by the Aussie spin wizard and learnt from him by seeing his videos. About his fast deliveries, the leg-spinner said he used pace in the beginning to set his line and length and later on he brought the variations in his pace.
Though Warner was of the view that the pitch is behaving same as day one and only batting with positive frame of mind can work, Yasir reckons that pitch was getting helpful for the bowlers with every passing day and spinners would be difficult to counter on the surface. Warner was disappointed that his century was not quite enough to save Australia from conceding such a huge lead and conceded that Saturday is going to be very tough for him and his teammates. “We will have to take 10 wickets tomorrow as soon as possible and it is going to be a tough day for us.” But he was not ready to resign yet. “Nothing is too many,” was short and grumpy answer from the serious man when he was asked about the target he thought would be achievable.
So it would be seen today that whether the Aussies come into the field with same energy and aggression or the frustration and fear of loss would make them desperate to show their anger verbally, as per their sledging reputation. Let’s wait and see for make or break day of this intriguing Test!