Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul Haq rates the 2-0 series win over Australia as his country's "best ever" considering his team were without three key bowlers
Pakistan's players celebrate after claiming victory over Australia in the second Test in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Pic/AFP
Abu Dhabi: Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul Haq rates the 2-0 series win over Australia as his country's "best ever" considering his team were without three key bowlers.
Pakistan's players celebrate after claiming victory over Australia in the second Test in Abu Dhabi yesterday. Pic/AFP
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Ace spinner Saeed Ajmal and frontline pacemen Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz were all missing as Pakistan inflicted a 356-run defeat on Australia — their biggest win in Test cricket — in Abu Dhabi.
That gave Pakistan their first series win over Australia in 20 years, prompting Misbah to rate the win the "best ever", slightly ahead of Pakistan's 3-0 rout of then world number one England, also in United Arab Emirates in 2012.
"It's really tough to rank both series, but considering the fact that we had far better bowling combination for England and this time despite having an inexperienced bowling line up nobody could have thought we can turned around and beat Australia so this you can understand is a big achievement," said Misbah.
Babar, Yasir shine
Ajmal was suspended due to an illegal bowling action while Riaz and Junaid were injured. Spinners Zulfiqar Babar, who had played two Tests before the series, and leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who made debut in the first Test, shared 26 wickets between them.
The win also put Misbah equal with Pakistan's most successful Test captains — Imran Khan and Javed Miandad — with 14 wins. Misbah credited the turnaround, after losing the preceding one-day series against Australia 3-0, to team effort.
Brief scores
Pakistan 570-6 (Younis 213, Azhar 109, Misbah 101) and 293-3 decl (Misbah 101*, Azhar 100*) beat Australia 261 (M Marsh 87) and 238-5 (Smith 97, Warner 58, Zulfiqar Babar 5-120) by 356 runs
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