Pakistan captain Younis Khan on Monday said his team had still not taken grip of the third and final Test against India and hoped to bat the visitors out of the game.
"I agree that we are in a good position but we are still not in a winning position. We need to bat, at least, for another day and only then we will be in a situation from where we can dictate terms," Younis, who completed his 1,000 runs against India, told PTI after the second day's play.
Pakistan, who slumped to 0-3 after the first over of the Test, ended the second day's play leading the tourists by 180 runs with eight wickets standing after securing a slender seven-run first innings lead.
Younis was unbeaten on 25 while Mohammad Yousuf was 30 not out.
"The game plan is simple and straight -- we need to build partnerships on the third day. We need to ensure that we don't lose many wickets in the first session.
"Time is not an issue in this Test any more and it is now all about how well we bat in the second innings," Younis said, adding: "We are looking at a score of anything above 350 which is gettable if we bat the entire third day.
Younis said the wicket still had something for the bowlers and it would be unjustified to say that it was turning into a batting paradise. "You bend your back and bowl as straight as possible and this wicket would assist you. Mohammad Asif, Abdul Razzaq and Sourav Ganguly showed that there is still something in the wicket for the seamers.
"It's unfortunate that instead of praising a high quality batting display by Salman Butt and Imran Farhat, we are saying that the wicket has eased out.
|
"It was a trademark fight back by the Pakistan cricket team. I think we have once again shown the world that there is no better team than Pakistan that performs and fights back hard when the chips are down.
"Our performance also indicates that we are no more a one-man team. It doesn't matter to the team if I am not playing or Mohammad Yousuf is not playing or Inzamam-ul-Haq is injured.
"We play as a team and try to contribute as much as we can and I can cite the example of Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Akhtar who extended full support to Kamran Akmal."
More from rediff