AUS vs PAK | It's important that we bowl consistently at blind spot to Steve Smith, advises Misbah ul Haq
Misbah-Ul-Haq has asked his young bowlers to consistently hit the “blind spot” when bowling to Steve Smith in the series as he stressed that the top of the off stump line is a tough one for every batsman. Misbah has further hailed Babar Azam as “very important” for the team given his recent form.
Pakistan’s Test series Down Under, which will also be their first in the Test Championship, is all set to be an interesting affair thanks to the visitors' young pace attack. The men in green put up a fabulous performance in the three-day tour match which seemed to be just the beginning of a series very competitive encounters between the two sides.
Pakistan chief selector-cum-head coach Misbah Ul Haq has a couple of advice for the young lads prior to the series. Haq suggested to hit the “blind spot” of the Australia batsman Steven Smith with consistency, ball after ball, to keep him under pressure and force some mistakes out of him. The head coach also opined that off the seam movement will also be key in taming the Kangaroo batting line up.
"As far as Steve Smith goes, there's a blind spot for every top batsman in the world; as a bowler, you're always interested in pitching the ball there. It's important that we bowl with consistency there. Our bowlers are executing the plans very well right now, and hopefully, we'll be able to build that kind of a pressure, and stay disciplined especially early in the innings. No matter how good a batsman is batting, it's about consistency and bowling the maximum balls in those areas that build pressure and the batsman respects you, and you force him to make a mistake," Misbah told ESPNCricinfo.
"All the batsmen you talk to, any batsman in the world, that's the area where you have to defend a ball, and that is a six-to-eight-metre spot where you have to play the top of off stump. That's the area from where if it's happening then that creates a great chance. Even if it's not happening, you have less chances to do anything with the ball. So it's about consistency, and top players in the world, if you miss those areas, that special length and line, then they are good enough to just cash in on that. So you have to be very, very disciplined, just keep the ball there, and if it's happening you are already in the game."
Mohammad Abbas, Shaheen Afridi, Muhammad Musa and the 16-year-old Naseem Shah make up the Pakistan pace attack and Haq believes they have the tempearment to go long way in the longest format of the game. The visitors will look to bowl fast and move the ball off the pitch to trouble the hosts as they will also eye to extract some bounce off the hard Australian pitches.
"At the moment, they are doing it, but obviously we'll see how it goes in these conditions because these pitches are hard," Misbah said.
"But I still believe if you get good pace behind the ball and just put it in the right areas, you can create chances. That's what we are looking for, and I think they can, the way Naseem is bowling at the moment, Shaheen is very important with the new ball especially, he gets some movement in the air and off the seam also. We hope that they can do it, but you need to be very, very disciplined.
"Then it comes to plan B and plan C, if it's not happening then where you're going to attack him. Let's see, there are good signs for us that a young bowling attack like this, they start understanding what they need to do here. It's big pressure when they just go in a Test match, that's a big learning for them. If they can replicate that in the game scenario then these fast bowlers will be a great asset for Pakistan. The kind of form he is in, there's no doubt Steve Smith is a batting genius. We will try our best to execute our plans and dismiss him."
Pakistan’s ace batsman Babar Azam looks to be in superb touch lately as he is trying to break through into the top 2 spots in Test players’ rankings. Former skipper Misbah seems quite impressed by Azam’s heroics on tough South African pitches, where he scored 223 runs at an average of 36.23, as Haq hailed him a “very important player” for the team.
"It was a very difficult pitch for our three-day game and they bowled very well. We were playing pretty much the top four bowlers from Australia A. Babar Azam did both the things there - he punished the poor deliveries and respected the bowlers when it was required. He batted with a lot of maturity there. It's not just aggression, aggression and aggression, he has a very balanced approach. He puts the short balls away and even respects the good deliveries whenever he had to. He is ready to play that sort of a long innings in Tests.
"He is very important. I think the way he is playing these days, the most important thing for a batsman is how confident you are, especially after South Africa and those were difficult pitches when Pakistan played last series. The way he played good and attacking cricket there, he has changed totally as a batsman. He understands conditions and here the conditions for batting are a lot better.
"The way he has been batting these days in the warm-up games, in the T20s, and even in the nets, you can see his confidence and he has improved a lot technically, you can see the surety in him. He will be a key , especially with his confidence. Hopefully he will do well, it will be very important for Pakistan."