Pakistan spinner Nauman Ali came up with an apt reply to a journalist who pointed out that he had given 100 plus runs in four consecutive innings and pointed out that the pitches are not helping the spinners and that the runs scored were just a norm.
This was after day 3 of the ongoing first Test against New Zealand in Karachi as after Pakistan made 438 runs in their first do, New Zealand went one better and gained a lead of more than a hundred runs while Kane Williamson continued on after scoring a wonderful century.
Both the spinners Nauman Ali and Abrar Ahmed bowled well over 50 overs each at the time of writing this piece, with Abrar picking three and Nauman getting two wickets out of 6 to fall.
Following the end of the day, left-arm spinner Nauman attended the press conference where he was asked an unusually critical question about his performances for the side of late. The reporter pointed at Nauman's stats over the past four innings and went on to say that the spinner has scored a century (with the ball) each time.
“We know it's a dead wicket but spinners have a role to play on such tracks. If we look at your stats, you have scored centuries in last four matches with the ball. You've conceded 100+ runs. If spinners can't take wickets… do we only rely on god's will to save us, like Saqlain Mushtaq had said? Do players not have the talent anymore?” the reporter asked the spinner.
To this, Nauman smiled and asked the reporter to also point out the number of overs he and other spinners have bowled.
“You correctly said that I conceded 100+ runs but you didn't count the overs. I've bowled 40-45 overs. If you bowl almost half of the team's overs, you are bound to concede runs. We try to do our best on the conditions given to us. And we will try to win this match as well,” Nauman said.
Here is the video:
