Asad Shafiq has a very bright future – Younis Khan

Younis Khan, the former Pakistan captain, is over the moon to have scored a superb hundred when his team needed him the most and also praised the efforts of Asad Shafiq, who also registered a fantastic ton under pressure.

At one stage of the first session of the second Test, it looked as if the Green Shirts were going to crumble once again, having lost four of their top-order batsman for just 33 runs on the board. The ball was viciously swinging in the air and the visitors were finding it hard to cope with the likes of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.

Younis and Asad however, took the responsibility on their shoulders at that moment and added 219 runs between them, which happens to be Pakistan’s best fifth-wicket partnership against the Proteas. Unfortunately for the visitors, Younis was dismissed in the 88^th over of the innings.

At stumps on day one, Pakistan had scored 253 runs for the loss of five wickets, with Shafiq and Sarfraz Ahmed at the crease.

The former Pakistan captain, while speaking to the media after the first day, expressed that the Cape Town pitch is a lot easier to bat than the one witnessed in Johannesburg. Younis mentioned that the key behind his success was the desire to spend time on the pitch.

“This wicket is much better for batting. It was my plan to hang there. Couple of times I played a shot and missed the ball because they bowled very well. Everybody knows that if you play for three sessions you will have a good chance of scoring a hundred and I made that,” he said.

Younis was all praise for Shafiq and said that the right-handed batsman is going to be an asset for the country in the years to come. The former captain thinks that the morale of a team is always boosted if an inexperienced player performs well.

The seasoned batsman added, “If the youngster performs in your team against the top team, it’s a good sign for the team and Asad Shafiq is improving every single day and I think he has a good future for Pakistan.”

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Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Feb 15 2013. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.