Coming back to the Test team after a gap of 7 years at the age of 34 isn’t an easy thing, but Jehan Mubarak seems to be a completely different batsman than he used to be in 2007, as he played some crucial knocks at crucial times, where his second innings partnership of 81 runs with skipper Mathews saved the day for the home team.
“I feel I’m a different player than I was seven year ago; different in the sense a better player” said Mubarak, who has impressed to a certain extent in the international stage after all those bulk of domestic runs in the club arena.
“I have understood my game much more. What my strengths, weaknesses and limitation are. And during the club season I worked on my weaknesses. I wasn’t much of a sweeper earlier, so I worked on the sweep, using my feet against spinners. I was hungry for runs. I set myself a target and wanted to be a better cricketer when I finished, whether I played international cricket or not by then,” added Mubarak.
With the lead closing towards 300 Mubarak said if Sri Lanka can see off the new ball tomorrow and bat the first session pushing the lead past 350 and to about 380, they can take Pakistan out of the game and push for a win, which will seal them the series as well as number 3 position in the ICC Test team rankings.
“At 80 for 4 the game could have gone either way. Initially we took some time to play ourselves in, especially against Yasir (Shah) who was bowling really well at the time. Once we spent some time out there it got a bit easier. The fast bowlers also weren’t as effective after the ball got older. Yasir was the main threat and we tried to see him out. It worked to an extent,” said Mubarak, who was disappointed about getting out for 35 after doing all the hard work.