Adil Rashid earned praise for his character from his captain, Alastair Cook, after battling back from the worst figures by a bowler on debut to spinning England to within touching distance of a thrilling late win.
Rashid’s five for 64, after recording none for 163 in the first innings, was the first five-wicket haul by an English leg-spinner since 1959 and came during a dramatic collapse by Pakistan that left Misbah-ul-Haq’s side needing bad light to spare them from defeat.
While Cook queried whether it was unsafe for his batsmen in their failed chase of 99 with the floodlights on at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium – the players came off at 5.46pm, the latest finish of the match – he took pleasure from Rashid delivering.
“Rash was fantastic. Test cricket, a lot is played in the mind – it was a tough introduction, bowling on the worst wicket as a leg-spinner,” the England captain said.
“But we know leg-spinners come into the game late on. Full credit to him for the character and confidence in his ability to not get too down on himself.”
Asked whether Rashid needed picking up after his chastening introduction to Test cricket, Cook said: “He has got good friends at Yorkshire, there’s Paul Farbrace and, as a captain, you have a quiet word too. But it’s not down to anyone else, it’s down to him sticking it out and still having the ability and confidence to rip his leg-spinner.”
The Pakistan captain, whose dismissal on 51 kick-started the panic, said: “One or two mistakes nearly cost us the match. We must have this in our mind and not repeat them. Credit should be given to England’s management after a poor start [from Rashid] – they gave him confidence. He bowled with big heart and temperament.”
While England looked set to produce a famous victory on a par with Karachi in 2000, when they chased down 176 in near darkness, the match ended more akin to The Oval Test against Australia in 2013, when their charge to victory was ended by the officials and their light-meters, 25 runs short of the target.
“It’s frustrating but I’m just proud of the way the guys hung in there for five days,” said Cook. “Going from conceding 523 to then, at the end of the game, being the only side that could win before the light fades, means we have done a number of things really well over the last three of days.
“We came off around the same time on day four. The only query I have is in the letter of the law: is it unsafe to play? That’s what I’m told at match referee meetings. Safety is paramount, but it didn’t look unfair today.”
Cook’s own contribution to a Test match that bubbled up from torpor into a classic finish – an epic 14-hour 263 in England’s first innings – earned him the man of the match award. But he threw the credit back on his players for a performance of equal stamina and skill, taking Pakistan deep into day five before narrowly missing out.
“I am very proud of the lads,” he said. “It’s a really strange feeling because there’s one of disappointment in the dressing-room, which is very odd because everyone would have taken the result at tea-time. No one saw what was coming. Over the next 10 days of Test cricket we need to show the same resilience.”
Having seen Rashid extract turn from the pitch on the fifth day, Misbah rued the absence of his own leg-spinner, Yasir Shah, and criticised the Pakistan Cricket Board for failing to secure a visa for the replacement, Zafar Gohar, in time.
Asked why Gohar did not make it, Misbah said: “You should ask this question to the selectors, somebody back home, because I have to pick the XI from what I have got. They might know better why there was no replacement.”
Yasir, who has 61 wickets in his first 10 Tests, looks set to return for the second of this three-match series in Dubai on Thursday, after missing out with a back problem here, having bowled in the middle during the lunch interval.
