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Pakistan’s shoulders had dropped by the time stumps
were called, despite a few late wickets, but Mir Hamza refused to allow the
disappointment of the last session tarnish memories he would cherish for the
rest of his career. Arriving shortly after midday, he had responded to two
balls of fury from Shaheen Shah Afridi by removing Travis Head and David Warner
in quick succession, the latter with an almost unplayable inswinging delivery
that left Head for a golden duck.
It is understandable, therefore, that a few hours
later, when he reflected on the event, his face lit up with the biggest of
smiles.
“It was a dream for me to play at the MCG against
one of the best teams, and to provide us two breakthroughs in one over,”
Hamza said at the post-match press conference after the third day’s play.
“I was telling myself I have to prove myself if I want to play
international cricket for my country. If you look at my last few matches, I
bowled well but didn’t take wickets. So I wanted to change that
“Since the match started, I tried to keep things
simple because there’s something in the pitch for fast bowlers. It’s seaming
and swinging. I thought if I can swing the ball, I’ll have a great opportunity
because the batter isn’t set at the time. I thought that way and believed
Travis Head was waiting for my outswinger, but I brought it back in. It was my
favourite Test dismissal.”
“We are still in the game, and we think we’ll get
stronger,” he said. “The new ball will swing in any conditions – as
it did for me – but there is something in the pitch. If you see the body
language of our boys, it is very positive. We will try to get wickets as soon
as possible. We are in the game.”
“Bowlers know about their quality. Some bowlers
are known for seam and swing, and others for pace,” he said. “What
matters is that you disrupt the batter – whether you do it with seam and swing,
or whether you do it with swing doesn’t matter. Our aim is to win, and we’ve
taken 16 wickets. We’ll try and take 20 as soon as possible, and come out with
the win. This will be memorable if we win the Test, and what I hope is we win
and my performance is crucial to it.”