Hasan Raza: Confident of breaking into the senior side soon

Rex Clementine Fernando

June 26, 2001

Pakistan A captain, Hasan Raza, made his second century of the series, when he made an unbeaten hundred to help his side make 179 in their first innings of the Third 'Test' Match in Galle today. He made his first century at the First unofficial 'Test' Match in Dambulla and another 50 in the Second 'Test' Match in Colombo.

The Pakistani captain reflected after the day's play on his hundred: "I think this innings was very important because we've nearly got a 40 run lead. We don't want to chase too many runs on this pitch, as it will favour the spinners and Sri Lanka have got three of them."

Hasan, who broke into the international scene at the tender age of 15 in 1996, has just played in two Test Matches so far.

"At times I get very nervous, because I am so keen to play for my country," he admitted. "I have performed well in the domestic season. I want to play for my country and want to play for a long time, like Javed Miandad and Zaheer Abbas.

"I have made a few changes to my game as well and I now play lot straighter. I think the day of me becoming a regular member of the senior team is not far away," he said.

Talking about today's performance, the 19-year-old from Karachi says he never thought of a century when the Pakistani last man walked into the middle. He had just completed his 50 when the number 11, Najaf Shah, walked to the crease. The pair put on a vital 52 run partnership, only five of which were scored by Shah.

"I was lucky to get a hundred here," he thought. "I tried to extend the lead of the side by keeping Shah away from strike, but when I was in the nineties, he faced lot of deliveries and I was praying that he'd not get out."

Though Pakistan had a wonderful start on the first day with their bowlers restricting Sri Lanka to 141, the Pakistani batsmen didn't capitalize on that today. Hasan was disappointed: "We started off the day with three wickets down. We were expecting lot of things from Humayun Farhat, but he struggled and I was disappointed about the way some of the batsmen got out. Our batsmen tackled the fast bowlers pretty well, but against the Sri Lankan spin attack they were vulnerable."

However Hasan was delighted with the bowlers fought back. If Pakistan wins this game, they'll win the series as well: "We have a good chance now of winning as we have already got through the cream of their batting. Kaneria is bowling in an attacking way at the moment and if we can get them out quickly in the morning, it's going to be our day tomorrow."

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Pakistan A v Sri Lanka A

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Hasan Raza

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Pakistan A tour of Sri Lanka

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