Tim Southee, the New Zealand captain, said the drawn two-match Test series against Pakistan was a frustrating finish for his side considering the hard work they put in on pitches that weren’t exactly helpful for the bowlers.
Tim Southee, the New Zealand captain, said the drawn two-match Test series against Pakistan was a frustrating finish for his side considering the hard work they put in on pitches that weren’t exactly helpful for the bowlers.
Bad light forced both Tests to finish early with New Zealand very nearly to victory. They were 77 away from the target, with nine wickets in hand, when the first Test ended, they needed only one wicket in the second game but the final wicket pair of Naseem Shah and Abrar Ahmed got a draw for the hosts.
“You play to win Test matches and we got ourselves in, probably, positions to win both of them. It was pretty tough going but the guys toiled away and we were one ball away from a series victory. So yeah, disappointing to walk away [with a drawn series] and I’m sure Pakistan is the same. You walk away; you toil away for 10 days and a drawn series. A lot of good cricket was played in and amongst those 10 days,”
said Southee at the press conference on Friday (January 6).
Speaking about the pitches in Pakistan, which have drawn a lot of criticism in recent times, Southee said they were good ones for batters looking to bat long hours but they weren’t easy for run-making.
“We felt the surface was still pretty good if you wanted to just bat. Tough if you wanted to score runs. So it was a bit of a balancing act to try and get the right amount of overs left and the right amount of runs. And I guess to get a little dip at them [2.5 overs] last night and get them two down, which was a great start.
New Zealand had declared late on Day 4, bowling only 2.5 overs in which they took a couple of wickets. When asked about their decision regarding the declaration, Southee said:
“I guess you always look back and there are ways you could improve and you could get better with hindsight. But that was a decision we made at the time. The guys that were batting felt that it wasn’t easy to just go out and hit the ball. So it was one of those that you had to weigh up. Last night we declared and made the most of the three overs we had.
However, the drawn second Test implied that Pakistan has been without a Test win at home for three series straight, losing 0-1 to Australia, being given a 0-3 whitewash by England while they also couldn’t force a victory in the second Test.
Skipper Babar Azam said didn’t prefer to blame the nature of the pitches, and instead spoke about the injuries which impacted the balance of the side.
“The Test season hasn’t gone according to expectations. It’s not an excuse but some of our players were unfit which disturbed our combination. Of course, there’s talk about the pitches, but conditions are different at every venue. We give our input on pitches, but you get the pitches you get, and after that, you have to execute your plans. You can’t just complain about losing a match because of pitches. We prepared them according to our plans, but the results didn’t go our way.
“Everyone has their own opinions but we have to focus on our performance. Forming a team takes time. Our Test side was very good, but suddenly there were a few injuries, which disturbed our players and altered the form of our side. We’ve tried to do our best but it just hasn’t worked out. We’ll look at whether to have Test specialist players in the future. There are so many crickets if you want to play all three formats you’ll have to be ultra-fit,”
said Babar.
Pakistan verged on winning the second Test, with Sarfaraz Ahmed playing a splendid inning. While he was at the crease, Pakistan had a decent chance of emerging victorious, despite having to score at more than four an over in the final session. But his dismissal left Naseem and Abrar seeing out 21 deliveries before bad light ended the game.
“We’d planned to go after it at tea, and you have to take risks for that,”
said Babar about Pakistan’s approach.
“At the time, we needed 4.5 [an over], for which you need to take chances, which can lead to dismissals. If we’d got out, you’d be asking very different questions. When New Zealand saw we were going for it, they opened the field up. We still took chances but then it becomes a slightly different situation.
“Agha got out and then the tail came in; after that, we wanted to take the game deep. Saifi [Sarfaraz] was in there so he was better at assessing where the game could go. When a wicket falls, building a new partnership is difficult. After our set batters got out, we knew the tail was coming, and we’ve lost our last few wickets quickly in the past,”
Babar said.