Pakistan leg-spinner Usman Qadir says his side were confident about their chances of defending 150 against Zimbabwe in the first T20I at Harare.

The visiting side had a rough day with the bat with wickets tumbling at regular intervals. Mohammad Rizwan, however, pulled his side out of trouble by batting till the end and notching a 61-ball 82. The bowlers then did a decent job of pulling back the opposition and restricting them to 138.

“We had confidence in our bowling, the way Hasnain, Haris, Faheem bowled. We were confident about our chances,” Qadir said in a video released by the PCB. “I’m glad that we won today, it was a tough day since we didn’t put a big score. The wicket was slightly tough too.”

Qadir was introduced by Babar right after the end of power-play and initially went on to concede 12 runs in his opening over. Craig Ervine gave a bit of a rough time to the leg-spinner with a six off his first ball and a boundary to finish the over. 

The leg-spinner admitted that he should go back to the basics of any sort of bowling, which is to hit the right line and length. However, he made a superb comeback to finish with three wickets in his spell. “After conceding 12 runs in the first over, I thought that I should stick to my line and length and my captain also told me to do the same.”

 “The conditions were very different here as compared to South Africa. We are adapting and hopefully will make a strong comeback.”

When asked about the legacy of his late father and a great of leg-spin bowling, Abdul Qadir, he responded that there is always pressure on his shoulders to meet the expectations.

“I’ve got this legacy from my [late] father, there is a slight burden on my shoulders since I have to take that legacy forward, but by the grace of Allah, I get success whenever I play.”

The two teams will now face-off in the second T20I on April 23 at the same venue.