Pakistan’s performances in the Test series against Bangladesh have been difficult to justify, and their captain Shan Masood made little attempt to do so. Following the shock 2-0 defeat at home, he called for long-term solutions beyond superficial changes, emphasised the need for Pakistan to play more red-ball and Test cricket, and admitted his side tended to “keep making the same mistakes”.
“In the batting department, and not just in this series, we need to improve in the second innings,” Masood said. “We tend to collapse quite frequently. We did well in each first innings, losing both tosses when there was weather around. We scored 448 and declared, and then 274, and when we reduced them to 26 for 6, that was a reflection of the pitch. That was the pitch we batted on and scored 274. We started well with ball and bat, but over four or five days, you need to be mentally tough throughout to make it count.”
Pakistan’s tendency to fall apart as games go deep isn’t just a problem for Masood’s tenure, but it has been amplified over the last five Tests. In Melbourne and Sydney, Pakistan got themselves into promising positions before letting the game get out of hand, and let slip situations from where Bangladesh needed to break records to recover.
The first Test in Rawalpindi was just the third time in history that a side declaring their first innings with six or fewer wickets down went on to lose, and Bangladesh’s 262 in the second Test is the highest total for a team that lost its first six wickets under 50 runs. Those Bangladesh recoveries, aided by Pakistan sustaining injuries to key bowlers and misfiring with the bat, led to the 2-0 result scarcely anyone predicted.
Masood praised Bangladesh’s “discipline”, and said their Test experience demonstrated the value of regular red-ball cricket.
“Bangladesh have two players who have played 70-90 Tests (Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahman), and Litton [Das] and Mehidy [Hasan Miraz] have played close to 40. We need the same level of red-ball exposure. Test cricket is the ultimate format of the game. You need experience. It’s obvious we need more Test and red-ball cricket. Whatever format you play is the format for which you’ll produce players. You can’t play more T20 cricket and get Test players. You can’t prepare for science and then sit a maths exam. If you’re being tested for maths, you study maths. To play red-ball cricket, you must play red-ball cricket.
“We have to respect the opposition and Bangladesh’s discipline was superior to ours in both Tests. We have to look at ourselves and the kinds of mistakes we made this series, and we made plenty. Test cricket, in terms of fitness, whether mental or physical, lasts for four or five days. What we’ve shown this series is that’s something we need to work on.”
With more Test cricket coming up, Pakistan’s players have virtually no avenue to prepare by playing red-ball cricket. Most of this squad will play the 50-over version of the newly created Champions Cup from September 12 to 29, before launching almost immediately into a three-Test series at home against England. With the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, Pakistan’s premier first-class tournament, coinciding with that series, the problems of limited red-ball cricket are unlikely to be alleviated soon.
The issue of player fitness has constantly weighed on Masood and the team management, with Pakistan attributing to it some of their more contentious selection decisions. Masood said last week that the extra seamer at the cost of a spinner for the first Test was to distribute the workload more lightly among four pace bowlers. For the second Test, both leading fast bowlers Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah were rested, and Pakistan’s three-pronged pace attack was notably bereft of pace in comparison to Bangladesh’s.
Masood admitted Pakistan might have been better served not resting the duo collectively. “We kept Naseem in the 12, because we might have had to play four fast bowlers, which we could have done considering the load this weather might put on the bowlers. But we chose to go with Mir Hamza for the left-arm angle we were missing with Shaheen so a lot of thought went into it. Never easy resting your two premier bowlers.
“If I could do it again, maybe we would have split Naseem and Shaheen between the two Tests. You have to be fair to them. Shaheen has played a lot of cricket in the last two years. Naseem has just come back from injury; his last Test was against New Zealand in Karachi. You have to look at the overall health of players; we have lots of cricket coming up and you have to look at the whole picture.”
Masood has been in Pakistan cricket long enough to know its administrators and selectors aren’t known for patience; his staccato career – 35 Tests in 11 years – exemplifies this. Appointed just five Tests ago, he may still be a new captain, but he knows he wasn’t the obvious choice at the time, and is playing to prove his place in the side as much as his leadership credentials. Having become the first Pakistan captain to lose his first five Tests, and averaging 28.60 in ten innings, he understands how quickly the walls can close in.
“I am not worried for my job security,” he said. “I took this job to make the changes we believe will help this team. If I believe this team can go in a certain direction, even if my personal failure takes Pakistan to that direction, I will be content. However much time I get I’ll be grateful for and do my best.”
At the moment, Pakistan have the worst of both worlds, with neither Masood nor his team able to find results that offer breathing space. After the next home series against England, Pakistan travel to South Africa, and they are currently eighth out of nine in the World Test Championship table.
Masood drew hope from the positions Pakistan got themselves into, pointing to four of the five Tests played under his captaincy. “If you do something good once, it’s an encouraging sign, and then you try and repeat it. We took time to adjust in Perth, but after that, in Melbourne, Sydney, both Pindi Tests, the game was in our hands and then we let go of it. This is something we have to work on.
“From encouraging signs, it’s turning into something we’re not good at and need to improve. When you back an opposition into a corner, you need to be clinical in putting that side away. Whether it’s Australia or Bangladesh, the answer as to what mistakes we’re making is the same.”
Danyal Rasool is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent. @Danny61000
