“If we played three fast bowlers and lost one through injury, we could have been like ‘why didn’t we play that fourth fast bowler?” – Shan Masood

Pakistan captain Shan Masood has defended the team’s decision to play with an all-out pace attack in the opening Test match against Bangladesh, which they lost by 10 wickets at Rawalpindi on Sunday.

The hosts played with Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Khurram Shahzad, and Mohammad Ali whereas Agha Salman was the solitary spinner in the final XI. Salman bowled a total of 41 overs in the first innings but went wicketless.

On the other hand, the Pakistan pace quartet bowled a total of 117.3 overs in the first innings and picked nine wickets between them. 

While defending his selection, Masood said there could have been questions raised if they had played with three fast bowlers and lost one due to injury during the match.

“The fast bowler was played looking at the extreme weather conditions where we could help each other share the load. Naseem and Shaheen hadn’t played Test cricket for a while and Pakistan haven’t played Test cricket for 10 months. If we played three fast bowlers and lost one through injury, we could have been like ‘why didn’t we play that fourth fast bowler?,” said Masood at the post-match press conference.

“Hindsight is always 20/20; you can always fit the spinner in, but you have to look at the full balance of the side. You need seven people that can bat properly and four frontline bowlers with a little help here or there.”

Masood admitted they were proactive on the first four days of the Test match but veered off the track on the final day when they were skittled out for 146 in the second essay.

“Even if you lose, it doesn’t mean you’ve done everything wrong. On the first four days, we were the ones that were very proactive, we were trying to take decisions, we declared quite early, we scored at a quicker rate, at around four runs an over. Those things don’t count at the end of the day when you lose the game,” said Masood in the presser.

To add salt to injury, Bangladesh spinners picked all 10 wickets in the second dig with Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib Al Hasan bagging four and three wickets respectively. 

The second Test match between Pakistan and Bangladesh will be played at Rawalpindi from Friday onwards.