Shan Masood rues ‘plenty of errors’ for Pakistan’s embarrassing loss against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi Test

Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood has rued ‘plenty of errors’ for his team's embarrassing loss at the hands of Bangladesh in the first Test in Rawalpindi by ten wickets. Despite batting first on a pitch that offered no assistance for the bowlers, Pakistan declared late on day two, only for Bangladesh to bat for nearly two days afterwards and take the lead heading into the final four sessions.

Though Masood’s call to declare when they were cruising at 448 for six looked apt for the situation at hand, in hindsight, that became the reason for their loss.

Addressing the media after his country’s first loss to Bangladesh in Tests, Masood admitted his team made plenty of mistakes during the first four days, with the bowlers failing to capitalise with the second new ball hurting them more.

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"As a team, we made many mistakes over the four days, and Bangladesh were worthy winners," Masood said during the media chat.

"They were very disciplined in their batting. We gave them a few chances as well when Mehidy and Mushfiqur [Rahim] were playing. As a bowling unit, where we lost the game was the second new ball. That's where we could have imposed ourselves on the game and let ourselves down,” he continued.

Wrong reading of pitch and weather cost Pakistan

Masood honestly admitted how he, the leadership group, and management failed to read the pitch and overhead conditions, adding the weather forecast influenced his decision to declare the innings on day two.

However, he added Pakistan was at least 50 to 100 runs short.

"If you asked me now, we would have liked another 50-100 runs," the Test captain said.

"That would have kept us in the game. The forecast also indicated the weather would be disruptive during the game. Those were our thoughts behind the declaration as well. We only lost six wickets in the first innings. We could have easily scored 550-600 if we'd carried on batting. But we also let ourselves down with the bat today,” he added.

Further commenting on how they strategised their final XI, with Pakistan playing an all-pace attack – only for the second time in 28 years at home, Masood admitted workload management and the pitch conditions were considered before zeroing in on the playing XI.

"I don't want to be commenting on day five because we didn't expect the game to hold up for four or five days. When you play three fast bowlers in this weather that's a lot of workload onthe fast bowlers. If you play a spinner, the spinner's probably bowling 30 overs,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan and Bangladesh will play the second Test at the same venue starting August 30.

(With inputs from agencies)