India vs Pakistan: Saud Shakeel Gives a Mid-Innings Warning To Virat Kohli and Indian Middle Order

Saud Shakeel hit a fluent fifty to take Pakistan to a respectable score of 241 against India on a sluggish surface in Dubai on Sunday. After his patient innings, Shakeel issued a mid-innings warning to Virat Kohli and the Indian middle order. Stating that the conditions on offer were quite challenging, Shakeel said early wickets were the key to Pakistan's defence of 242.

"I could have easily taken some more time there, it was not a good time to get out. Earlier, the ball wasn't coming onto the bat that nicely. Little bit of swing as well. As the spinners came, we made some runs there. The pitch was slightly on the slower side. We have to put up a fight there. If we take early wickets, we can put pressure on them. We have to strike early."

The pitch expectedly grew slow once the match entered the middle passage. The precision of Indian bowlers made run-making a laboured task, with left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep leading the way (3/40).

In the Pakistan innings, both Rizwan and Shakeel failed to find the boundary rope for 55 consecutive deliveries.

Meanwhile, former West Indian legend Ian Bishop in his mid-match pitch report also gave some insights and said: "It's a lot cooler now than when the game started. I am looking at the foot-marks, the pitch is actually held together nicely. You can see where the bowler has followed through here, it's not significant, there's no great advantage for the ball to grip out of these foot-marks."

"The middle of the pitch is good. Little bit of help for the spinners. It has gotten cooler, I don't know if dew will form. We saw in the powerplay, India's bowlers getting the ball to swing, they didn't control very well. But in that powerplay, 1.3 degrees of swing and Pakistan will be hoping that continues," he concluded.

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