Mir Hamza had made his Test debut in 2018, but was dropped after one match. He got back into the side four years later, but was again dropped, this time after two games. So the left-arm Pakistan pacer knows the importance of opportunities at the highest level.
Included in the XI for the ongoing Melbourne Test, Hamza showed his skills by getting the wickets of David Warner, Travis Head and, most importantly, Mitchell Marsh.
“It was a dream for me to play at the MCG, and to provide us two breakthroughs in one over,” Hamza said at the post-match media conference after the third day’s play. “I was telling myself I’ve to prove myself if I want to play international cricket. If you look at my last few matches, I bowled well but didn’t take wickets. So I wanted to change that.
“Since the match started, I tried to keep things simple because there’s something in the pitch for fast bowlers. I thought if I can swing the ball, I’ll have a great opportunity because the batter isn’t set. I thought that way and believed Travis Head was waiting for my outswinger, but I brought it back in. It was my favourite Test dismissal.”
