Pakistan is relying on its spin strength to seal the Test series against South Africa after defeating the Proteas men in the first Test match in Lahore on Wednesday, interim red-ball head coach Azhar Mahmood said at a press conference ahead of the second match on Monday.
Left-arm spinner Noman Ali was South Africa’s chief tormentor as Pakistan won the first Test by 93 runs. Set a daunting 277-run target for victory, the visitors and World Test champions were bowled out for 183 on day four.
“The pre-series camp was aimed at adapting spin on these types of pitches; different shots, scoring options,” Azhar said at the presser. “We’re trying that if we play this method at home, then we’ll know how to play spin.”
Azhar noted that the playing XI will be decided the morning of the match after seeing pitch conditions, saying there is a possibility of some changes, “but not too many”.
“With regards to the toss, we don’t want that the whole match is decided by the toss.
“I said this before the series as well, that these pitches are not West Indies pitches, this pitch played better than that one. So the aim is that even if we lose the toss, we try to make 350 (runs) in the first innings,” said Azhar, who was appointed interim coach of the men’s team in June.
When asked how important a 2-0 series win is, Azhar acknowledged the confidence boost that comes with winning against a team like South Africa.
“We hope to perform as best as we can. There is no guarantee of the result, because we need to improve our process and be consistent with our basics over a long period of time,” he said.
“When you play at home, you need to see how you’re going to take 20 wickets, whether it’s through spin or pace. Wherever we play, the aim is that we win. We have the fast-bowling ability.”
Azhar added: “Whenever the opposition comes from abroad, we can plan against them differently. The countries that struggle against spin, we’ll try to play spin and reverse against them.”
During the presser, Mahmood also cleared the air on criticism against him based on a “wrong narrative” being used against him.
“There’s been a lot of criticism on social media because I said last time that we don’t have quality spinners. You can see any press conference of mine and see that I said we don’t have any spinners in the squad; I never said we don’t have spinners in the country.”
Azhar also had praise for Pakistan’s batsmen, saying all seven who played scored runs and “everyone played their part.
“Unfortunately our lower order did not perform, so we expect that they not only perform with the ball. You must have seen in the previous series as well that Noman, Sajid performed well, so Hassan Ali can bat, Shaheen can bat.
“The top seven is the top seven, but the lower order runs matter as well, which we didn’t do in the previous test,” Azhar said, adding that South Africa made 90 runs in their last four wickets.
“We’re playing against the best team and they’re obviously not going to take this lightly, they’ll give it their all to comeback; they were relying heavily on one of their spinners, who’s one of the best in the world. It’ll bring a lot of challenges for us.
“In the camp, we had thought of all kinds of challenges that would come, of [Keshav] Maharaj, of Rabada, so we prepared accordingly.
The preparation is done, now it’s time to execute.
“We know what challenges will come, and we need to see how to tackle those. On the day, it’s all about execution and making the right decision when you bat, bowl or field,” Mahmood said.
With regards to winning the World Test Championship, he said Pakistan is playing six Test matches at home.
“Obviously, we need to go step by step to reach there — you need to play in conditions abroad, play in West Indies, Bangladesh, England. So the process that I keep talking about, we need to take the matches one by one. With Test matches we’ll take it session by session.
“This team has been playing for quite some time now, the boys’ morale is quite high, they knew it was important to win the match and you saw the effort they put in. They’re confident and they’re all getting along well and playing together. This is what a team needs to build up,” he said.
Spinner Maharaj to return for South Africa against Pakistan
South Africa have been boosted by the return of leading spinner Keshav Maharaj to the team for the second test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi as they seek to level the series, captain Aiden Markram said on Sunday.
Maharaj, 35, was recovering from a groin injury and missed the first test in Lahore.
“Obviously, its great to have him back in the camp, Markram told a press conference on Sunday.
He brings lots of experience and a really good skill set as well, so we’re looking forward to this game starting tomorrow, which is an opportunity for us to level the series, but also to keep improving in these conditions and fixing some of the stuff that we feel needs fixing from the first game.”
Maharaj’s 203 wickets in 59 tests make him South Africa’s most successful spin bowler.
The clash in Lahore was dominated by the spinners on a slow turning surface, and Markram is expecting the same from the pitch at Rawalpindi.
“We’re expecting it to spin. We’ve expected those types of conditions from day one, and it’s about us having done some homework post the first test and coming up with new plans to hopefully counter that and give ourselves a chance of succeeding in these conditions.
“I suppose when you get to spinning conditions, the guessing game is always how long until it really starts to spin exaggeratedly,” Markram said.
South Africa had three spinners in their line-up last week, and Maharajs return is likely to lead to Simon Harmer, Senuran Muthusamy or Prenelan Subrayen being dropped.
Pakistan’s victory in Lahore ended a 10-match winning streak in test cricket for South Africa.
