Pakistan opener Imran Farhat has urged his team to repay the faith of their coaching team in the third Test against England which starts at the Oval on Wednesday. Pakistan are 2-0 down in the four-match series after being overwhelmed by England in Nottingham and Birmingham and have attracted criticism for their sloppy fielding and batting.
Pakistan's failure to hold their catches in the last Test meant they were never in the game and they eventually went down by nine wickets after a 354-run thrashing in the opener. The touring party has been bolstered by the arrival of Mohammad Yousuf, although the veteran batsman was too jet-lagged to play in the Edgbaston Test. But Farhat has told the youngsters in the side it is time to pay back the confidence Waqar Younis and his staff have shown in them as they attempt to square the series by winning the last two Tests.
The 28-year-old said: "This is a time to be very honest - the criticism has been going round and now we have to repay our coaches and our country as well. We are looking to win this match. "For the youngsters it is not easy to play in this country and the management have been giving us more chances to get adjusted. "It is true that catches win matches. If we had caught the catches we might be in a different situation." And Farhat did his best to defuse a potential row with the English side over wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider's finger injury.
Reports in England suggested on Monday that the Pakistan management thought the injury was caused by Stuart Broad's petulant throw at the keeper, when he was batting at Edgbaston, which led to Broad being fined half of his match fee. Pakistan were waiting until Monday to confirm Haider's fitness, with Kamran Akmal poised to return behind the stumps if Haider, who made 88 in the second innings in Birmingham, has to pull out.
Farhat added: "I am not sure what happened, he had a problem with it. But he is still with us and is doing practice sessions and wearing the keeping gloves. "He hit on the same finger and the pain was getting worse. When he got swelling he went for an x-ray and it was a hairline fracture. "We are not sure if it was because of Stuart Broad, I am not blaming him."