My task is to take wickets on any kind of wicket: Mohammad Abbas

Pakistani pace bowler Mohammad Abbas had a decent outing by picking up three lower-order wickets in the first innings of the ongoing 1st Test against Sri Lanka at Abu Dhabi. The Pakistani bowling attack had a tough first two days at the slow Abu Dhabi track as they had to work very hard to claim the wickets of the Lankan batters. On the other hand, the visiting skipper Dinesh Chandimal played an incredible unbeaten knock and piled up loads of runs to help his side posting a strong first innings total of 419 runs.

Chandimal won the toss and opted to bat first, but his side didn’t have a great start. But then skipper joined hands with opener Karunaratne for a big partnership which laid the foundation for the rest of the batters to come. However, in the end, Chandimal got no support from the lower order batsmen as he remained unbeaten on 155 runs. Pakistani seamer Mohammad Abbas was the most consistent bowler for the hosts also enjoyed his experience of bowling on a slow track.

“I am playing in Abu Dhabi for the first time. I will try to make good with this experience. It was, however, difficult as the pitch was slow. It was very hot and ball was getting sweaty. It was very tough but a good learning experience. I will try to improve in my next outing,” said Abbas.

My task is to take wickets

He further stated that his prime task is taking keys with the new ball which he wasn’t able to do. He also talked about his experience of playing under the captaincy of newly appointed skipper Sarfraz Ahmed. “The coach (Mickey Arthur) had tasked me with getting wickets with the new ball. I wasn’t successful in doing that,” he said.

“I am playing for the first time under skipper Sarfraz Ahmed and his advice was to just bowl good line and length. Even if we don’t get wickets, we shouldn’t give away runs. We stuck to the plan and got success,” he added.

The grass on the pitch was dead

The 27-year old fast bowler also said that they took care of the ball to ensure it would reverse later in the innings as there is grass on the wicket but it is dead. “The new ball didn’t seam and swing. We took more care of the ball and it got better (helping us reverse swing). The grass on the pitch is dead grass. It’s hot too. I had it in my mind that I didn’t get any wickets (on the first day) despite doing good bowling,” concluded Abbas.