Professional Documents
Culture Documents
an ever-present. In just the second Test of the post spot-fixing era, he made a
debut fifty against Steyn et al. Since then he has only missed a single Test (a
gainst Zimbabwe in 2011) in 46, as Pakistan have forged an identity around a mid
dle-order comprising players from bygone eras. That isn't something he was ever
expecting to experience. "I couldn't even dream of playing as much as I have don
e," he says when talking about his Test debut and career. "I didn't think I woul
d even get a chance as early as I did. We still had guys like Mohammad Yousuf an
d Umar Akmal playing in the team at the time, so I thought it would take a while
for me to break through." But an injury to Yousuf meant that one spot in the mi
ddle-order was now open for a straight shootout between him and Umar Akmal.
On the surface, Akmal, who had been playing regularly for a year by then, was ex
pected to retain his spot. But when he was dropped Shafiq grabbed onto his chanc
e. "I had never batted at No. 6 before my Test debut. I thought whenever I play,
it would be as an opener or No. 3, because that's where I had batted throughout
my domestic career. But Misbah bhai and then Waqar bhai sat me down and told me
about their decision to include me in the team and what batting at No. 6 would
entail. I didn't care where I was playing. All that mattered was that I was play
ing a Test for Pakistan. And after that the more I batted at No. 6, the more I l
earnt about that role - how to bat there, when you have to counter attack, and e
specially how one bats with the tail."