Asad Shafiq dedicated his brilliant hundred at The Oval to Hanif Mohammed who died in Karachi on Thursday, saying it was a great compliment from the “little master” in the past that “I bat close to his technique.”
Shafiq hit a return-to-form 109 and was well supplemented by senior man Younis Khan who notched 101 not out guiding Pakistan to 340-6, a lead of 12 over England’s first innings total of 328.
Shafiq said he would like to dedicate the century to the great master of Pakistan cricket.
“I would like to dedicate my hundred to the great Hanif Saheb and it was a great compliment from him that I bat close to his style,” said Shafiq. “It’s a great encouragement from him and will inspire me to do better and better.”
Shafiq, who also scored a hundred at Cape Town in 2013, said it was always an honour to score hundred outside Asia.
“I have scored one in South Africa and this is an equally good hundred,” said Shafiq. “I was a bit under pressure after bagging a pair in the last Test so I worked hard and tried to still my head position while playing the ball and it worked well.”
Shafiq said the team has spoken of winning the Test on Pakistan’s Independence day on 14th August.
Misbah-ul-Haq (skipper) talked about this to give the nation a gift of win on Independence Day and we will do our best to achieve this win so that the whole nation celebrates the win,” said Shafiq.
He played down sledging from England bowlers, terming it as “part of the game and in the heat of the moment.”