Rawalpindi, Sep 3 (IANS): Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood claimed the responsibility for the team's 2-0 whitewash against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi and stressed making improvements in the red-ball side for the hectic home season.
In the first Test, Pakistan declared at 448 for 6, but Bangladesh's 565 and dominant bowling led to a 10-wicket win. In the second Test, despite being 26 for 6, Bangladesh turned the game around with a 165-run stand between Litton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz to seal the series with a seven-wicket win on Tuesday.
“I take responsibility for the defeats and I apologise to the nation. But I think we need to focus on how we can improve and take our Test side forward. There is no excuse for losing this series and we accept that. But it is also a fact that the players also wanted to do well. But we were just not prepared for red ball cricket. We have to tolerate some failures if we are to move forward,” Masood said in the post-match press conference.
"We thought we were playing good cricket in Australia but not doing the job, that's something we need to work on. It has happened four times in my tenure that we have left the team back into the contest when we were dominating. 274 was a good score in the first innings, me and Saim (Ayub) could have got more runs like Litton. But we should have done better by having them on 26/6. That's something we need to work on and work on quickly," he added.
Masood expressed concerns about his team's fitness. Pakistan's four-man pace attack in the first Test excluded a frontline spinner. In the second Test, fitness problems impacted their course correction, with Mohammad Ali bowling just seven overs out of 78.4 in the first innings and Khurram Shahzad, who took a six-fer, delivering only seven overs out of 56 in the second innings.
"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 3 bowlers and 2 spinners was less, we could have done with another pacer," Masood said.
In the do-or-die Test, Pakistan rested their pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi citing workload management. Naseem Shah, who returned to the format after a gap of one year, was also dropped for the second Test. Masood batted for a fitter and better-prepared bowling group ahead of next month's three-Test series against England.
"It isn't all doom and gloom, there are always learnings. We got Shaheen and Naseem back in the fold, Shaheen has played consistently for a year across formats and we can't keep throwing him in the deep end. But we need to get fitter, neater and prepare better. It is going to be a long Test and domestic season and we need to be better prepared for England," the captain said.