Many former Pakistan cricketers were left disappointed as spinner Abrar Ahmed was released from the squad to play for Pakistan Shaheens against Bangladesh A. Shan Masood picked four seamers and relied on part-timers Saim Ayub and Agha Salman for spin. However, the pacers did not trouble the Bangladesh batters as he expected them to. On Day 3, only five wickets fell and one of them was taken by Ayub. Left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi remained wicketless as Bangladesh crossed the 300-run mark. After Day 3’s play, assistant coach Azhar Mahmood defended the decision.
"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.
No mistake in reading the pitch
Mahmood said that they did not make a mistake reading the pitch and any team could have done the same.
“Anyone who looked at the wicket would have thought it would be a seaming track. We can't do anything about the fact it didn't behave that way. We didn't make a mistake reading the pitch, it just didn't play like we thought it should," he said.
Mahmood unhappy with how pacers bowled with second new ball
Bangladesh lost half the side for 218 but the partnership between Mushfiqur Rahim and Litton Das ensured no more wickets fall in the last session on Day 3. Mahmood felt that the bowlers allowed Rahim and Das to attack in the last 12 overs.
"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.
Meanwhile, Rahim became the seventh Bangladesh batter to score a Test hundred against Pakistan.
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