Shan Masood has owned up to his mistake. The Pakistan Test captain agreed that they made too many presumptions before the PAK vs BAN 1st Test, which led to their downfall in Rawalpindi. Mere hours ago, Bangladesh downed Pakistan, claiming their first-ever Test victory over the hosts.
Expected pitch & weather to play different
One of the reasons Pakistan lost was due to the decision to play four pacers. Bangladesh spinners claimed 9 wickets in the match, 7 of which came on the final day of the PAK vs BAN 1st Test. This saw Pakistan get bundled out for just 146 in the third inning as Bangladesh chased the target (30) with ease.
Masood revealed that they expected the pitch to play differently and assist the pacers. Another factor was the weather. Rain played spoilsport early in the game (first day), but the weather remained good otherwise. This wasn’t what Pakistan was expecting. “Looking at the pitch, we expected it to do more. If we played 3 fast bowlers, we would be pushing them to the limit, and the spinner would be bowling 25-30 overs a day, which we wanted to avoid. We thought that with the weather, it may not even last the full 5 days. At the end of the day, we got it wrong,” Shan Masood said in the post-match press conference.
On the baffling declaration decision
Masood also agreed that the declaration on Day 2 of the PAK vs BAN 1st Test doesn’t look like the best decision right now, but the thought process behind it was to take the game forward. He believed that Pakistan could win by ending the innings early, but things didn’t pan out perfectly after.
“Hindsight’s 20/20. The reason for the declaration was a positive push—to push the game forward and hopefully have a crack at them in the 4th innings. We could have done with those runs, but there were also things with the ball and in the field that we could’ve done better to either take a lead or keep them at par,” the Pakistan captain added.
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