MELBOURNE: Pakistan’s middle-order batter Saud Shakeel on Thursday expressed his excitement to feature in the Boxing Day Test against Australia, commencing on December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
While talking to the media during the Pakistan team’s training session in Melbourne, the 28-year-old batter shared that as a kid he used to wake up at 5 am to watch the Boxing Day Test.
“It is very special for me to be part of Boxing Day. When I was young, I used to wake up at 5 am and watch the Boxing Day Test,” said Saud Shakeel. “And now that I am about to play the same Test, the excitement is double.”
He further opened up about his experience of playing in the Perth Test.
“It was challenging, as we played a practise match in Canberra’s low bounce track, while in Perth, the conditions were different.”
“It was my first experience of playing on a drop-in pitch and I have learnt a lot from it,” added Shakeel.
Saud Shakeel scored 28 and 24 runs in two innings during the first Test against Australia, which the hosts won by a huge margin of 360 runs.
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Pakistan’s batting lineup unfolded at a mere 89 in the fourth innings while chasing a mammoth total of 450.
The touring side could yield 271 runs in their first innings in reply to Australis’s 487.
Pakistan, who were at the top of the World Test Championship (WTC) points table with a perfect, record, got another blow to their campaign when the International Cricket Council (ICC) penalized them for maintaining a slow over-rate during the Perth Test.
Pakistan were fined 10 per cent of their match fee and docked two ICC WTC points.
The sanction after a hammering defeat, consequently resulted in them slipping to the second spot with a winning rate of 61.11.
Two-time runners-up India benefitted from Pakistan’s demotion and reached the summit with a winning percentage of 66.67.
Australia squad:
Pat Cummins (captain), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitch Starc, David Warner
Pakistan’s squad:
Shan Masood (captain), Sarfaraz Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Faheem Ashraf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Aamir Jamal, Khurram Shahzad, Sajid Khan, Abrar Ahmed
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