Pakistan succumbed to an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat at the hands of Bangladesh in opening Test match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday (August 25).
After conceding a first innings lead of 117 runs, Pakistan’s second essay folded for just 146 and Bangladesh chased down the paltry target of 30 in 6.3 overs to go 1-0 up in the two-match series.
While Pakistan’s decision to go with a four-pronged pace attack backfired, skipper Shan Masood stood by the team management’s choice despite the unfavorable outcome.
Masood refused to accept that the decision to play the Rawalpindi without a specialist spinner was a mistake.
His take came as a surprise for many as Bangladesh’s spin duo of Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz shared seven wickets between them on the final day.
"We had anticipated the pitch to offer more assistance to the seamers. Looking at the pitch, we expected it to do more," Masood said in the post-match press conference.
"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," he added.
Shan Masood also stated that the decision to declare their first innings at 448/6 was made with the intention of forcing a result in the match.
"We wanted to go for a win in the match and thus felt we had enough runs on the board to declare. But the Bangladesh batters showed a lot of discipline and intent in their first innings. Mushfiq and Miraz batted really well," Shan remarked.
"We felt that with 448 runs we could get a crack at them in the fourth innings. We could have done with more 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," he said.
The Pakistan captain acknowledged that this was not the best way to kick off the home season, which includes seven home Tests and two away matches in South Africa.
"We just have to now get everything right and try to level the series in the world test championship," he said.
It was Shan Masood’s fourth successive defeat as captain after Pakistan's 0-3 whitewash at the hands of Australia last winter.
(With PTI Inputs)
