Shafiq Ahmed, a cricket teach at GEMS Modern Academy, Dubai, become restless on Monday morning. He had a cricket session to behavior for center and number one school students, however his thoughts was drifting to Multan that’s hosting the first Test among Pakistan and England. Ahmed knew it turned into possibly the ultimate chance for his son, Abdullah Shafique, to store his location inside the Pakistan Test group following a nightmarish run with the bat.
The classy starting batter made an excellent begin to his international profession, scoring hundreds towards Australia, and England, and a chic double hundred against Sri Lanka remaining yr.
The right-hander changed into also Pakistan’s lone bright spot inside the batting branch in what become a completely negative ODI World Cup for the crew in India final 12 months. But not anything seemed to have worked for him this 12 months as he struggled for runs. The 24-12 months-antique became fortunate to preserve his location for the high-profile series in opposition to the bold England team at home in spite of enduring a torrid time in Pakistan’s embarrassing defeat to Bangladesh last month.
It became against this backdrop that Shafique went out to open the innings against England on Monday morning in what changed into a make-or-spoil fit for him.
And here in Dubai, Ahmed, his father who noticed the talent in him whilst he was best three, turned into getting fidgety. So, the veteran cricket teach did the best factor he should have performed to escape the nerve-racking anxiety — he switched off his cell and concentrated on education the young cricketers of GEMS Modern Academy.
“If I had checked the score in between and if he (Shafique) had failed again, I would had been harm. So, it became critical for me to recognition on my process.”
Ahmed had reasons to smile after he switched on the mobile as Shafiq Ahmed had simply scored a brilliant hundred (102) in Multan to put Pakistan in a robust position towards the traveling English group.
“I became very happy when I saw the rating. This become a very important healthy for him. He become scoring loads remaining year, and he additionally scored a 60 plus within the Melbourne Test. But after that, he was not capable of carry out. His performances have not been on top of things. He turned into below strain.”
Ahmed feels this may be a life-converting knock for his son in Test cricket, the toughest format of the sport.
“As a batsman, whilst you are not capable of score in some fits, you’re continually under pressure. Even the incredible Sachin Tendulkar and the fantastic Brian Lara were below pressure when they failed to score in some suits,” he said.
“So, it was herbal for him to feel the pressure. That’s why this fit is so vital for him, maybe this Test is the maximum vital match of his profession. I wish this could give him a super self belief increase and he can play many greater Test matches for his united states of america.”
Ahmed, who played with Ijaz Ahmed and Wasim Akram in Pakistan’s domestic cricket earlier than becoming a full-time instruct, then found out what he informed his son in the course of that lean phase.
“I asked him to stay advantageous. You can continually work on the technical side of the sport with the team coaches, but the maximum critical element is to remain wonderful. I have always instructed him the equal component,” he stated.
