Shan Masood’s nightmarish run as Pakistan Test captain stretched to a second consecutive series defeat when Bangladesh stunned the Men-in-Green at home on Tuesday with a historic 2-0 clean sweep, leaving Masood “extremely disappointed.”
The 34-year-old Masood, who took over the reins of the Test team after Babar Azam was stripped off captaincy following Pakistan’s dismal ODI World Cup campaign last year, incurred a wretched start to his tenure, losing all five Tests so far (including the three Tests against Australia Down Under earlier in the year).
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 Test, when they left Bangladesh reeling at 26 for six after being folded for 276 runs in the first innings.
Thereafter, centurion Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who hit a fifty in their triple-figure partnership, led a spectacular recovery for the visitors to leave Bangladesh just 12 shy of Pakistan’s first-innings total.
In the second innings, Bangladesh pace duo of 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.
The six-wicket win was Bangladesh’s eighth victory in an overseas Test, and it helped them secure their fourth clean sweep in Test history, and second on tour.
We have not learnt our lessons: Masood
For Pakistan, it was the second instance when the team suffered a whitewash at home after going 0-3 down against England in 2022. The loss to Bangladesh drew huge criticism from the fans and former cricketers alike, with cricket experts blaming the skipper and the “dressing room environment” for the ordeal.
Masood, who is yet to win a match as a Test captain, lashed out against his team in a brutal assessment of Pakistan’s performances in the last couple of Test series. 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,” he said.
“We thought we were playing good cricket in Australia but not doing the job, that’s something we needed 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 added.
Masood felt that Pakistan missed a fourth seamer in the match, but stressed on the importance of fitness of his quicks.
“I think Test cricket demands something else in terms of fitness. We played four 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 three fast bowlers and two spinners was less, we could have done with another pacer,” he said.
With Pakistan set to take on England in a three-match Test series at home next month, Masood and Co will be expected to go back to the drawing board, and iron out their shortcomings, but most importantly as suggested by most cricket experts in the country, work on improving their dressing room environment.