MOHALI (India), March 13: Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer on Sunday warned his team of complacency after their unlikely fight back to earn a creditable draw in the first Test against India.
“I have told our players not to get complacent. After all it was a draw and we are here to win the series,” Woolmer said.
Pakistan, trailing by 204 runs, rode on a pugnacious maiden hundred from wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal and half centuries from Abdul Razzaq, captain Inzamamul Haq and Yousuf Youhana to compile 496-9 in the second innings to avoid defeat.
“It’s the first step in the right direction and to grow as a team we need to take such steps on a regular basis,” said Woolmer, who played 19 Tests for England and coached South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
The tourists were just 53 runs ahead with the last four wickets in hand in the morning before being steered to safety by Kamran, who was involved in a record 184-run stand for the seventh wicket with Razzaq.
Woolmer said the team was determined to save the Test.
“When we reached the ground there was a mood of determination to save the Test and the way Kamran and Razzaq played was tremendous,” said the Pakistan coach.
Kamran, who hit 109, became only the second Pakistan wicket-keeper to score a hundred against India, the first being Imtiaz Ahmed, who hit 135 at Chennai in 1960-61.
“I am on record saying that Kamran can bat and he got an opportunity and made the most of it,” said Woolmer.
“The state of the pitch also helped them bat with ease but their efforts should not be undermined by that.”
Woolmer said he hoped Pakistan’s bowlers would work hard to find a way to deal with the SG (Sanpareil Greenland) balls used in India.
“I am not making any excuses but the ball used in India doesn’t seem to swing and the advantage of a new ball was not there.
“It neither swung for the Indian bowlers nor for us. But having said that we need to find a way to get it to swing.”
Woolmer said dropping Virendar Sehwag four times was crucial rather than not getting Sachin Tendulkar out cheaply.
“We dropped Sehwag four or five times and it proved more costly than not getting Tendulkar out cheaply,” he said.
Sehwag, who made a punishing 173 in the first innings, was floored on 15 and then on 83 while Tendulkar was adjudged not out early in his innings after he seemed to have edged the ball on to his pad for a catch at silly point.
The second Test starts in Kolkata’s Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
BALAJI FINED
Meanwhile, Indian seamer Lakshmipathy Balaji was fined on Sunday for excessive appealing in the first Test.
Match referee Chris Broad fined Balaji 30 percent of his match fee after umpires Darrell Hair and Rudi Koertzen reported him for the offence during the Test.
“There is no place for this sort of appealing in international cricket. The player has apologised for his actions and I hope that will be the end of the matter,” Broad said in an ICC media release.
Balaji bagged nine wickets in his first Test in almost a year, after being sidelined due to injury.—AFP
