After creating history in the first Test against Sri Lanka, Pakistan are currently facing the hosts in the last game of the series. After the first innings of the ongoing second Test, the visitors were trailing by 147. They needed to restrict the home team to a low score as much as possible to make a comeback in the game. However, they let Dimuth Karunaratne’s men amass 360/8 declared.
This means that the Babar Azam-led side needs to chase an improbable target of 508 runs. Notably, the same number the team needed a few months ago in Karachi against Australia. At that time, there was a stage when they looked like winning but ended up drawing the game. Meanwhile, Pakistan batting coach Mohammad Yousuf pointed out the same match and is optimistic about his team doing well on Day Five. He said that the way Babar and Imam Ul Haq are batting, the last day will be important.
“We have done it in the past against Australia in Karachi,” Yousuf said. “I think the same target we needed to get in the same amount of time maybe, and Babar played an excellent inning of 196. Shafique got 96 and Rizwan got a hundred and it was a very good game. The way Babar and Imam-ul-Haq are playing, it will be an interesting day tomorrow,” he added
The former skipper added that the team will see how their first session goes. He revealed that if everything goes well, the team will try to chase down the target. The right-hander feels that the players shouldn’t be bound to play against their natural game.
“We will see in the first session how we go, and if we do well, we will try to chase the total. Imam and Babar have played very good cricket in the last session, and I hope they bat the whole day tomorrow as well.
“Never tell anyone to go against their strengths and their natural game,” Yousuf said. “You play your own game. I did that in my days. Even now, head coach Saqlain Mushtaq, me, and the support staff try our best to keep the players mentally free and motivate them to do well,” he concluded
