Nobody can really claim Joe Root as their bunny, but Rahat Ali has enjoyed rare success so far against the world’s No 1 batsman in the UAE.
Root is the second-most prolific batsman in Test cricket in 2015, behind his captain Alastair Cook, and has 281 runs at an average of over 70 in this series to date.
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Despite those numbers, he was clearly troubled by the left-arm swing of Rahat on day 2 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium, and it is not the first time that has happened.
Admittedly it is a small sample size, but Rahat has sent down 24 deliveries to Root in this series, conceded just 10 runs and had him caught at the wicket twice.
Given that success rate, it seems a surprise he has been the fall guy in the Pakistan attack.
With all the bowlers fit and available in Dubai, it was Rahat who made way, and he probably would not have played here, either, had Imran Khan not succumbed to a hand injury.
Rahat, though, was just grateful to see the back of Root early in his innings, as he fell for four.
“He is a world-class batsman and I have a lot of respect for him,” Rahat said.
“It was our plan to try to get him early because once he is set he is difficult to stop and he scores runs quickly. I was happy to get his wicket.”
Paul Radley’s session-by-session report
With minimal bounce or sideways movement to assist them, Pakistan’s pace bowlers had to be reliant on accuracy and patience.
They might not have managed it to quite the extent England’s quicks did on the opening day, when James Anderson and Stuart Broad returned combined figures of six for 30 in 28.1 overs.
They did stifle the scoring rate adequately, though, with Rahat maintaining an economy rate of 2.18 and Wahab Riaz a miserly 1.53.
“It was difficult for the bowlers but we did our best to restrict the batsmen, and make sure we didn’t give them easy runs,” Rahat said.
“We managed that today. There was some reverse swing and we tried to use that.”
pradley@thenational.ae
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