Rehan Ahmed disputes Sajid Khan's Urdu misdirection claims

Sajid claimed that he, and Saud Shakeel, intentionally spoke loudly in Urdu while batting in the middle just so the Pakistan-origin England spinners Rehan and Shoaib Bashir could hear them. The 31-year-old believes he was successful in deceiving their English counterparts, but Rehan later maintained that neither he nor Bashir gave in to Sajid’s shenanigans.

"We were only doing that [speaking loudly in Urdu] to deceive the bowlers,” Sajid told reporters. “Rehan and Shoaib understand Urdu, so to fool them, we wanted them to hear we were only looking for the single. When we did that, they brought the field up and the bowlers flighted it. Saud told me once they do, no half measures: just go for the big shot as hard as you can."

Rehan did not agree with the claim though.

"He just said it for the media"

"He [Sajid] didn't fool me at all; he just said it for the media," said Rehan as he chuckled. "I didn't even hear him. He said something like he's going to run down this ball and I knew he was going to try and scoop me, and it didn't really work. I think he batted well, and he hit some big blows, but he didn't really fool me or Bash [Bashir]."

Saud Shakeel scored a spectacular 134 off 223 balls during the Pakistan innings and stitched a valuable partnership of 72 runs for the ninth wicket. Sajid remained unbeaten at a run-a-ball 48 before the hosts were bowled out for 344 with a lead of 77. Rehan finished with bowling figures of 4-66 in 17.4 overs while Bashir registered a spell of 3-129 in 33 overs.

England eventually succumbed to 112 all out, managing a lead of just 35, as Noman and Sajid shared all ten wickets between them. Incidentally, it was Sajid who dismissed Rehan.

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