Mohammad Rizwan speaking after the end of the 1st Test match against New Zealand:
That’s the beauty of Test cricket. The first 2 days were tough for us after winning the toss. The plan was to take early wickets, but we didn’t take our chances. In Test cricket you have to even take your half-chances when facing players like Kane Williamson.
After New Zealand set us the winning target we fought back well. We bowled better in the second innings and batted well in the second innings too.
Test cricket is all about pressure, we survived all day but then towards the end of the match we lost several wickets very quickly and that cost us.
I hope our top order will perform in the upcoming matches. The conditions were tough and our top order needed to see-off the new ball and make big scores. Maybe we need to work harder on this front and I feel that results are usually based on the amount of hard work put in.
I want to give my team credit the way they fought and played. Both teams played well and that’s why the match came down to the last few overs on the final day. You can say that New Zealand maybe put in a little better effort than us and that’s why they won. But we never gave up, we kept on going, but perhaps we need to work even harder going forward.
I congratulate Fawad Alam for his effort and on the amount of time he spent at the crease. Fawad and I spoke about staying out there and trying to play 280 to 300 balls each and we would see our team through after the early wickets fell and Azhar’s wicket today. We didn’t panic, we didn’t think about the number of runs or the scoreboard, it was all about keeping it simple. We fell just short in our hard work and effort and that hurts.
Credit to Neil Wagner for playing on with his broken toe. He was a credit to his team and country. But we have similar players in Pakistan who would put in the same effort and play on with a fracture if needed.
The series is still alive and we move to Christchurch and we are confident that we can level the series and those who are due runs will perform and we will win the next Test match.
That’s the beauty of Test cricket. The first 2 days were tough for us after winning the toss. The plan was to take early wickets, but we didn’t take our chances. In Test cricket you have to even take your half-chances when facing players like Kane Williamson.
After New Zealand set us the winning target we fought back well. We bowled better in the second innings and batted well in the second innings too.
Test cricket is all about pressure, we survived all day but then towards the end of the match we lost several wickets very quickly and that cost us.
I hope our top order will perform in the upcoming matches. The conditions were tough and our top order needed to see-off the new ball and make big scores. Maybe we need to work harder on this front and I feel that results are usually based on the amount of hard work put in.
I want to give my team credit the way they fought and played. Both teams played well and that’s why the match came down to the last few overs on the final day. You can say that New Zealand maybe put in a little better effort than us and that’s why they won. But we never gave up, we kept on going, but perhaps we need to work even harder going forward.
I congratulate Fawad Alam for his effort and on the amount of time he spent at the crease. Fawad and I spoke about staying out there and trying to play 280 to 300 balls each and we would see our team through after the early wickets fell and Azhar’s wicket today. We didn’t panic, we didn’t think about the number of runs or the scoreboard, it was all about keeping it simple. We fell just short in our hard work and effort and that hurts.
Credit to Neil Wagner for playing on with his broken toe. He was a credit to his team and country. But we have similar players in Pakistan who would put in the same effort and play on with a fracture if needed.
The series is still alive and we move to Christchurch and we are confident that we can level the series and those who are due runs will perform and we will win the next Test match.
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