In the second Test match against Bangladesh to begin in Rawalpindi on Friday, Pakistan left out star pacer wahid Khan Afridi. “He may be called up for family matters,” Pakistan’s head coach Jason Gillespie said as he would be rested so that he could spend time with his newly born son and family.
The first test witnessed a stunning performance of Bangladesh, who defeated one of their strongest opponents in a clinical fashion; it was even almost a decade since Bangladesh had last Successfully defeated Pakistan in franchise history, throughout the entire match in relation to which fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi did squeeze throughout most, yet fail to find momentum during most parts of it.
For the time being, Pakistan’s former batsman Ahmad Shahzad now defended the Omicron from the team where Afridi was selected at the last appointment.
Utilizing his official X handle, Ahmad Shahzad reacted by saying in a video, ”You first lost to Zimbabwe, then lost to Ireland, lost to USA, lost to India, now you have lost to Bangladesh as well. Is Shaheen Afridi solely responsible for all these losses? No, he is not. Everyone should be held accountable who were a part of these losses. Tell this nation. It is not fair to put all the blame on Shaheen Afridi. His fighting class is there but there is a flaw in his attitude, you released him that’s okay. But what about others? What about their performances? How many runs did Abdullah Shafique score in his previous 8 matches? You have brought in Saim Ayub back after 25 matches, what’s his performance? How well has Babar Azam performed over the last 14 Tests innings?”
“Pakistan will not be on the right track only by dropping Afriidi. I can tell you this by experience. Some such decisions would have to be made. Likewise, those who have also come in these defeats with wrong performances also need to be scrutinized. So they shouldn’t be spared either, because one thing is that there is nothing bigger than cricket or the country. The country comes first, everything comes second.”
Whoever they are, with whatever public relations mechanism they have in place, with whatever personal guarded milestones they have, with however deep investment they are but British knew up to everything and those who are holding the reins of affairs in PCB well know so too. If you really don’t want to move in the right direction, such things should not be accepted,” Ahmad Shahzad said.
Ever since they have been placed in their group A at the world twenty twenty, Pakistan have been struggling through a lean spell of late, bowing out at the preliminary stage in the world T 20 in the current year. Their last Test series was white washed in a three-test match series to Australia.
Abrar Ahmed has been brought back in the home side after it was decided to use only fast bowlers in the first match.
Shane Gillespie the former Australian fast bowler admitted that it will not be an easy task to level the series but he showed trust to the under performing captain Shan Masood whose scores in the first game were six and fourteen and is yet to win a test match as captain having already lost four.
Pakistan were shaken by the Bangladesh reaction towards their first innings effort of 448 run 6 wickets declared with the batsmen going on to score a miserable 146 runs in their second attempt.
On a flat pitch in Rawalpindi, Mushfiqur Rahim managed to score a phenomenal score of 191, allowing the visitors to achieve their record of 565 against Pakistan taking the crucial first innings lead of 117 runs. Rahim was able to score a staggering 191 runs on a flat Rawalpindi pitch helping the visitors surpass their previous highest total against Pakistan and help them amass 565 runs which was crucial as it helped the team gain a lead of 117 runs on first innings.
Later in the innings, spinners Mehidy Hasan Miraz (4–21) and skippers Shakib Al Hasan (3–44) spun the hosts into a tizzy and proved how costly it was to go without a main spinner.
Bangladesh has achieved only two overseas series win since the country gains the status of playing test cricket in 2000 over 32 attempts with the two slaying victories coming in Caribbean in 2009 and Zimbabwe in 2021 respectively, drawing three and having lost 27.
After suffering from a shoulder injury for some time and regaining full fitness, Taskin Ahmed will be available but will fight for a place on the eleven with Nahid Rana as the Nation’s bench is enlarged.
Squads:
Pakistan: Shan Masood (C), Saud Shakeel (VC), Abrar Ahmed, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha.
Bangladesh: Najmul Hossain Shanto (C), Mahmudul Hasan Joy, Zakir Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Litton Kumer Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam, Nayeem Hasan, Nahid Rana, Shoriful Islam, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed and Syed Khaled Ahmed.
