Imam Impressed as Azan Awais Delivers Under Pressure on Test Debut

Pakistan batter Imam-ul-Haq was impressed by the maturity shown by young Azan Awais on his test debut. He played a solid knock under pressure, giving Pakistan a strong batting platform in the ongoing Mirpur test. Due to his brilliance, the green shirts are looking well set to post a big first innings total, provided the middle order also plays well.

Speaking after the match, Imam hailed the performance of Azan Awais, saying he played well and showcased the importance of grinding hard in domestic cricket.

"You should prioritise red-ball domestic cricket. Azan has played 33 first-class matches and scored 10 hundreds. His record speaks for itself. He was batting under pressure. There was lateral movement and the Bangladesh bowlers were playing with decent pace. He held his composure. He absorbed all the pressure, and it really helps having played so much domestic cricket." said Imam-ul-Haq while talking to the reporters.

By the end of the first day at Mirpur, Awais batted with the calmness and confidence of an experienced player, handling a strong bowling attack despite Pakistan being far behind in the match. He dealt well with several aggressive spells from Nahid Rana and eventually took control by hitting three boundaries in a row in the bowler’s final over.

Imam said it showed how important it was to stay patient early on, something all three Pakistan batters managed to do during the day. At the same time, he admitted Bangladesh’s bowling lacked consistency and discipline at different stages.

"There is a lot of grass but the pitch is very good to bat on. It's initially difficult, but when you get 20-30 runs it gets easier. We got lucky because we were getting boundaries every 2-3 overs, which was good for the debutant [Awais] as well that he didn't have that pressure where the runflow was very dry. We got the boundary ball often enough, and in that sense we were lucky today." said Imam-ul-Haq.

He then praised Azan for recovering well after being hit early on, saying the young batter stayed composed despite being put under pressure.

"We knew what was coming. We had a meeting where we discussed that Nahid would bowl like this [fast]. Credit goes to Azan. After the first ball when he got hit, which was a quick ball, the way he responded was very good.” said Imam-ul-Haq.