New Delhi: A shambolic performance from the team which leads to a catastrophic loss against the team whom no one had given any outside chance also for a win is bound to attract criticism. A similar fate is unfolding for the Pakistani cricket team who slumped to two catastrophic defeats. Both the games were winnable for the men in green who failed to make crucial decisions at important junctures of the game.
“If you can’t handle a bit of pace and movement even at home then the future is not very bright for us…”- Ahmed Shezad
To begin with, the first glaring defect downplayed by the Pakistani cricket team was the team selection in the first test. On a pitch which offered a decent amount of turn as the day progressed, the Pakistani head coach decided to pack the bowling lineup with 4 out and out pacers. But there were no specialist spinner in the side which made the Pakistani attack blunt as they became unidirectional. The result- Bangladesh scored 565 runs.
Next one more glaring defect emerged in the batting of Pakistani batting lineup, the inability to play spin bowling. Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib al Hasan ran riot through the entire Pakistani batting lineup. Being a subcontinent team, playing spin should come naturally to the men in green.
Iqbal Qasim- We don’t have bowlers of the calibre of Sarfaraz Nawaz, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar or Shoaib now. So, we should be banking on our spinners to win us Tests at home…
2nd Test Problems: A failure of Masood?
Can 2nd test be called the failure on part of Masood? Well, not entirely Masood the d have a huge role to play in this test. Reducing your opponent to 26/6, the Pakistani team had the match in their bag. However, Masood’s harakiri decision to bring in Abrar instead of Khurram pushed the game far away from the cusp of the men in green.
Read more: Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Litton Das save the day with a 150-run partnership!
In the second innings also, Masood gave crucial overs to Abrar whereas Hamza and Khurram were nowhere to be found. Khurram bowled just 7 overs! This lack of making quick decisions from Shan after reading the pitch and the team at his disposal cost the game for Pakistan.
