Shan Masood minces no words in assessing PAK's wretched streak under his captaincy: 'Story has been same as Australia'

Shan Masood minces no words in assessing PAK's wretched streak under his captaincy: 'Story has been same as Australia'

16 days ago | 15 Views

In the wake of Pakistan's poor show in the 2023 ODI World Cup, and the growing criticism against his captaincy, Babar Azam was removed from the leadership role across formats. In Test cricket, Shan Masood was named as the new captain. But the 34-year-old incurred a wretched start to his tenure, losing all his first five matches as a captain. After a whitewash in Australia, Bangladesh stunned Pakistan at home on Tuesday with a historic 2-0 clean sweep, which left Masood "extremely disappointed."

For the first time in Test cricket history, Pakistan suffered a loss against Bangladesh when the Najmul Shanto-led side won the series opener on August 25 in Rawalpindi. However, the hosts did find themselves in a commanding position in the second match, when they left Bangladesh reeling at 26 for six after being folded for 276 runs in the first innings. But a brilliant recovery act from centurion Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who hit a fifty in their triple-figure partnership, left Bangladesh just 12 shy of Pakistan's first-innings total.

In the second innings, pacers Nahid Rana and Mahmud Rana picked up nine wickets between themselves to fold Pakistan for just 172 runs, before Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim took Bangladesh past the finish line on the final day of the match.

‘We have not learnt our lessons’

While the six-wicket win was Bangladesh's eighth win in an overseas Test, helped them secure their fourth whitewash in Test history and second away from home, for Pakistan, it was the second instance of incurring a whitewash at home after going 0-3 down against England in 2022.

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Masood, who is yet to win a match as a Test captain, minced no words in his brutal assessment of Pakistan's winless run in his tenure. He felt that the team did not learn from their past mistakes and failed to capitalise on moments they were dominating in the Bangladesh series.

"Extremely disappointed, we were excited for the home season. The story has been the same as Australia, we have not learnt our lessons. We taught we were playing good cricket in Australia but not doing the job, that's something we need to work on. It has happened 4 times in my tenure that we have left the team back into the contest when we were dominating," he said.

Masood also reckoned that while Pakistan missed a fourth seamer in the match, he stressed the need to work on fitness.

"I think Test cricket demands something else in terms of fitness. We played 4 fast bowlers in the first Test and the reason was we thought the workload would be too much for three people to manage. And that was proved in this game when we lost a fast bowler in each innings. I think even in this Test match, having just 3 bowlers and 2 spinners was less, we could have done with another pacer," he said.

Pakistan will next take on England in a three-match Test series at home next month.

Read Also: 'RIP Pakistan cricket': Fans mourn 'death' of 'once formidable PAK' after humiliating 0-2 whitewash to Bangladesh

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