Mohammad Abbas makes it seem easier than it is. Whether he pretends or genuinely believes that dismissing one of the opposition’s, and arguably the world’s, best batters could be done by something as simple as “playing your strengths”, he didn’t say otherwise when he sat in front of the media after taking four wickets on the opening day of the Lord’s Test.
Abbas’ set-up for Root
One of his four wickets was Joe Root, who walked away without troubling the umpire for another look after Abbas struck him on the knee roll. Root only faced Abbas for seven balls across three overs. And this figure could have been fewer had it not been for Ben Duckett’s dismissal warning Root, who stood outside the crease to rule out LBW. It was on his second ball at the crease that Abbas had hit him on the pad, but ball tracking showed the impact outside off, saving Root.
It was only after Mohammad Rizwan came closer to the stumps, forced the England captain to stay inside the crease, and Mohammad Abbas’ in-comer landed on Root’s pads that the umpire raised his finger.
“Everyone has their own quality,” Abbas said after his heroics on day one that gave Pakistan a better start to the Lord’s Test. “My quality is seam. England’s batters are very good at reading the shape of the ball out of the hand. So I try to bowl according to my strengths, and assess what the batter’s weaknesses are and target that according to a plan.”
“Joe Root is a great batter,” Abbas said of the dismissal when he did eventually get there. “But we had a plan against every batter.”
Abbas at Lord’s
This was his third four-fer at the venue, which Abbas said he loves bowling at. He could not complete his five-wicket haul, with the final wicket falling to Ali Usman. But Abbas has no problem with it. He could never be bothered by matters as petty as this.
“I always love bowling at Lord’s. It’s famous all over the world. My first player of the match was here and we won that game. After that I came with Leicestershire and took four wickets. I will be more than happy either way. I have a chance to put my name on the board. If my partner gets wickets, it’s not a problem.”
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