If opponent gives you opportunity, you have to capitalise: Saim Ayub

Despite Mohammad Huraira being in stunning form, Pakistan skipper Shan Masood made it clear that Saim Ayub would open the innings in the first Test against Bangladesh. 

And the 22-year-old, who registered scores of 0 and 33 on debut against Australia, repaid the faith by scoring 56 off 98 on day one of the first Test against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on August 21 (Wednesday).

During the rain-interrupted day, Pakistan lost their first three wickets for just 16 runs, but that’s when Ayub and Saud Shakeel put on 98 runs for the fourth wicket. In the process, Ayub also brought up his maiden Test half-century.

"The only thing I concentrated on was to play as long as possible, but unfortunately, everything is not in your hands,” Cricbuzz reported Ayub as saying.

"It was difficult initially, but when any partnership gets going, it obviously looks easy from the outside. You cannot take red-ball cricket lightly at any point in time. We tried to extend the partnership as long as possible.”

Ayub got out to Hasan Mahmud after slamming four fours and a maximum. Pakistan eventually ended the day at 158/4 in 41 overs, with Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan unbeaten on 57 and 24, respectively.

Talking about his approach, Ayub said, "The first thing is to watch the ball, assess the conditions, and figure out which bowlers are effective. A bad ball is a bad ball, and I can't let that go unpunished.

"Attacking cricket is important. If the opponent gives you an opportunity, you have to capitalise on it. If you don't, you get bogged down, and they dominate. So, I always try to see if the opponent gives some space; I wait for it and then take advantage.

"In Test matches, the wicket doesn't behave the same way for five days. It changes in the morning, afternoon and evening. The red ball is challenging, and sometimes things go your way, and sometimes they don't, but that's beyond your control.

"I just tried my best. Sometimes, you survive against a good ball, and sometimes, you get out to a bad one. That's part of cricket.”

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