Saud Shakeel was thought of as a one-format batter up
until recently, or rather until very recently. He had already achieved success
in tests, but on Friday in Hyderabad, in Pakistan’s World Cup first match, when
they were reeling at 38 for 3, he went in to bat. This was only his sixth ODI.
It is not at all the perfect situation he had wanted to enter at.
However, it was a chance for him to demonstrate his
bat skills by walking a tightrope. In these circumstances, most batsmen don’t
counterpunch, especially not if it’s their first World Cup. Shakeel’s innings,
a stroke-heavy 52-ball 68, was thus welcome.
Shakeel has been a standout batsman in red-ball
cricket, as evidenced by his Test average of 87.14 across 13 innings. But he
wasn’t going to rely on past success with his team facing the only Associate
nation in the competition, Netherlands, in treacherous waters.
Shakeel was worried once more by this high backlift in
the second delivery he received. He missed a Paul van Meekeren edge that soared
over the empty gully area because he was slow to react. The ball Shakeel edged
off his eighth ball slipped through and fell low to Vikramjit Singh’s right at
slip as he came down late on it. These are the strokes of luck that might
easily work against you as a hitter. Shakeel had the rub of the green.
Shakeel was thinking constantly. He meticulously
examined fields before every over against spin. Even before Roelof van der
Merwe, a left-arm spinner, bowled in the 21st over, Shakeel saw an extra
fielder outside the 30-yard circle. Shakeel waved aggressively to alert the
umpire to the additional fielder as he stepped out and chipped him into the
open spaces to pick up a boundary at deep midwicket. It was a no-ball, and he
skillfully pulled using the depth of his crease to smash the free-hit for six.
As a fan of Pakistan, you may have been desperately
hoping for a Shaheen Afridi special or thunderbolts from Haris Rauf at three
down, which were abundantly on exhibit under the starry night sky. However, the
key to this victory was how a stoic Shakeel avoided the mayhem and landed the
strike that will make Arthur quite happy.