ENG vs PAK, 1st Test: Jos Buttler And Dom Bess Played Very Mature Innings - Asad Shafiq

Pakistan star Asad Shafiq heaped praise on Jos Buttler and Dominic Bess after the duo revived England’s chances in the ongoing first Test at the iconic Lord’s. England were on the verge of losing the game inside three days after being reduced to 110 for six, before Buttler and Bess began the resurrection work.

Both the players scored the fifties to leave the game finely poised. At the end of day three, England were 235 for six, thus taking their overall lead to 56. Buttler was unbeaten on 66 while Bess scored gritty 55.

Speaking after the day’s play, Shafiq refrained from criticising his bowlers for their failure – to capitalise on the fine start and instead praised Buttler and Bess.

“Credit must be given to their [England’s] batsmen for handling our bowling. They built a sensible partnership. They first saw off the ball and then attacked us. The ball was moving but Buttler and Dom Bess played very mature innings,” Shafiq told media.

Pakistan will have their task cut out on the fourth day. With England already having a sizeable lead and two set batsmen in the middle, another 100 runs can create all sorts of trouble for them.

However, Shafiq is confident Pakistan can make life difficult for the duo.

“We will try to hit the right areas when we come in the morning so we get a lower target. A new ball is also due in the morning. It won’t be easy to play it on this wicket. Especially, the way [Mohammad] Amir and [Mohammad] Abbas are bowling, it will be very difficult for this pair to handle them,” he said.

Pakistan team has been poor while chasing the target in recent times. They failed to chase down 136 against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi last year (2017).

In the same year, Windies had bowled them out for a paltry 81 while defending 187. However, Shafiq said that the team is not nervous about the prospect of chasing in the fourth innings.

“I don’t think there is any such thing. It has happened a couple of times before, but everyone is very confident. Everybody is saying that we will chase the target, whatever it will be,” he insisted.

“The way our new boys batted against Ireland gave confidence to them and to the whole team. It made us realize how we have to go about our tasks if wickets fall early on,” added the middle-order batsman.

At the same time, Asad Shafiq made it clear that the visitors would not like to chase anything in excess of 150.

“We will not be happy to chase anything over 150. We will try to get them out below 150 as we have to bat in the fourth innings,” he asserted.