Pakistan captain Shan Masood was left frustrated as Bangladesh batters piled on runs on Day 4 of the Rawalpindi Test. After the end of first session where just one wicket in form of Litton Das fell, Masood was seen having a heated exchange with newly appointed head coach Jason Gillespie in the dressing room.
At tea break, Bangladesh had already taken a lead as Mushfiqur Rahim neared his double century. He shared a record-breaking seventh wicket partnership with Mehidy Hasan Miraz for Bangladesh. Earlier, Pakistan opted for four seamers for the Rawalpindi Test. Barring the first session hour of play on Day 1 after a delayed start where Pakistan lost three wickets for just 16 runs, the pitch and conditions assisted the batters.
After Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan scored their respective hundreds, Masood declared the innings when Pakistan's score was 448/6 thinking that his pacers will make an impact. No wickets fell in the last session on Day 2. Shadman Islam and Mominul Haque scored half-centuries. Four wickets were taken by seamers on Day 3. The other wicket belonged to part-time spinner Saim Ayub. But Mushfiqur Rahim and Litton Das shared a 114-run partnership for the sixth wicket. Meanwhile, Shaheen Afridi failed to pick up a single wicket.
Azhar defends decision to play 4 seamers, says pitch played different
After Day 3’s play, Pakistan assistant coach Azhar Mahmood defended the decision to drop Abrar Ahmed and play four seamers. While he criticised how seamers bowled with the second new ball, he said that the pitch played differently than what they had accepted.
"The reason we didn't play a spinner was there was grass on the pitch and we thought it would favour the seamers. We were hoping for that. But the three hours the pitch was sunned before the game started on the first day may have made a difference. The wicket dried out; we didn't think it would dry out so quickly, and that made it play differently," Mahmood said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
"We were not disciplined enough in the last 12 overs. If you assess the overall day, we were great in 80 overs. With the second new ball, we strayed from the plan. Then they attacked. We allowed them to play that type of cricket. But you can also score runs easier off the new ball, and they utilised that to great effect," he added.
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