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- author, Sami Chaudhry
- position, Cricket analyst
Today there is hubris in Rawalpindi. So where did such a fog come from in this blood that engulfed the entire dressing room of Shan Masood. And when the fog cleared, Bangladesh had made history on the other side of the match.
No matter what the defeat, it hurts, but historically, defeat by an inferior team always stings a little more. And it adds to the sting that this defeat was inflicted on Pakistan by such a huge margin on its home ground.
If Bangladesh created history by winning a Test match against Pakistan for the first time, Pakistan was not far behind and for the first time in their Test history, they also created a new history by losing by ten wickets to a visiting team. is
The confusion is thick that how the pitch, which looked lifeless, lifeless and completely harmless for four consecutive days, suddenly became so light on the fifth day that the fog deepened on the minds of the Pakistani batsmen.
Statisticians, however, can attribute a strategic reason for the defeat to the declaration made by Shaun Masood on the second evening, when Pakistan had four wickets in hand and could have added 600 runs by the third morning session.
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Cricket experts can relate it to the team selection that it was a strategic folly to land on the Rawalpindi pitch with a complete pace attack and a specialist sniper can never be ruled out of Test cricket.
But neither that declaration decision was wrong nor the unavailability of a specialist sniper proved to be the final difference. It is necessary to look behind the curtain of these external phenomena to find the hidden reasons behind this defeat.
If we just look at the test calendar of both teams, it becomes clear that the Bangladeshi team was much more prepared to carry the load of five-day cricket mentally and physically than Shan Masood’s test team, which played its last test match. It’s been eight months since I played.
The Pakistani bowlers were not ready for the grueling rigors of five-day cricket, which was tougher than the season in Rawalpindi. It should be noted that five players of this Test XI were playing international cricket for the first time after the recent T20 World Cup’s embarrassing campaign.
In understanding the conditions that Najamul Hasan Shanto’s team showed, the Pakistani dressing room could not even do half of it.
As the bowlers groped the line-length in despondency for two days, the Pakistani batsmen too made it easy for the Bangladeshi spinners by hitting tomcats in the dark.
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Bangladeshi bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed’s opinion cannot be disputed that there were definitely some opportunities for the spinners in this pitch on the fifth day. But those chances were not so fatal that a batting line with a strong middle order would have gasped before the 150 total.
It was a mist of ill-feeling that fell on Saeem Ayub and waved it off-stump against the new ball. Then after him, Shan Masood repeated the same action and made life more difficult for his batsmen.
Babar Azam’s luck on the first ball also did not materialize and the desire to play on the side of the wicket took him back to the pavilion.
In their short careers, neither Abdullah Shafiq was so careless as to stagger outside the crease against good spin, nor was Saud Shakeel ever so carelessly used to leaving the crease, but when Pakistan needed them both, Then his steps also faltered.
The bumper home season in which Pakistan was expected to restore its prestige has started on such a forgettable note that the wait for a team thirsty for victory on home grounds has been extended for three years.
Now before the second test, Miser will keep this dressing room sleeping for four days.
