शान मसूद का बुरा दौर पाकिस्तान पर पड़ा भारी बांग्लादेश हुई ऐतिहासिक जीत

Shan Masood's bad phase cost Pakistan heavily, Bangladesh gets historic win

Shan Masood's bad phase as Pakistan's Test captain extended to a second consecutive series loss. Masood is "extremely disappointed" after Bangladesh stunned the Men-in-Green with a historic 2-0 clean sweep at home on Tuesday. The 34-year-old Masood, who took over the reins of the Test team after Babar Azam was removed from captaincy following Pakistan's disappointing ODI World Cup campaign last year, has had a poor start to his tenure, losing all five Tests so far (including three Tests against Australia earlier this year). Pakistan suffered a defeat against Bangladesh for the first time in the history of Test cricket when the Nazmul Shanto-led side won the series opener in Rawalpindi on August 25. However, the hosts found themselves in a commanding position in the second Test when they lost six wickets for 26 runs to Bangladesh after being bundled out for 276 in the first innings.

Centurions Liton Das and Mehidy Hasan Miraz then hit half-centuries in a triple-digit partnership as the visitors staged a stunning comeback to leave Bangladesh just 12 runs behind Pakistan's first innings score. In the second innings, Bangladesh's pace duo of Nahid Rana and Mahmud Rana combined to take nine wickets and bundled out Pakistan for just 172, before Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim powered Bangladesh to victory on the final day of the match. The six-wicket win was Bangladesh's eighth victory in an overseas Test and helped them secure their fourth clean sweep in Test history, and second on the tour. For Pakistan, it was the second time the team suffered a whitewash at home after losing 0-3 against England in 2022. The defeat to Bangladesh was heavily criticised by fans and former cricketers, with cricket experts blaming the captain and the "dressing room atmosphere".

Masood, who is yet to win a match as Test captain, took aim at his team in a scathing assessment of Pakistan's performance in the last few Test series. He felt the team did not learn from their past mistakes and failed to capitalise on moments when they were dominating in the Bangladesh series. "Very disappointed, we were excited for the home season. The story has been the same as in Australia, we did not learn our lessons," he said. "We felt we were playing good cricket in Australia but could not perform well, we need to work on this. There have been 4 times in my tenure when we were dominating, we were left behind in the match," he said. Masood felt Pakistan missed a fourth fast bowler in the match but stressed the importance of the fitness of his fast bowlers. "I think Test cricket needs something more in terms of fitness.

We played four fast bowlers in the first Test and the reason for that was that we felt the workload would be too much for three guys. And it was proven in this match when we lost a fast bowler in each innings. I think even in this Test match, having only three fast bowlers and two spinners, we could have played with one more fast bowler," he said. With Pakistan set to play a three-match Test series with England at home next month, Masood and company will be expected to go back to the drawing board and iron out their shortcomings but most importantly, work on improving their dressing room atmosphere, as suggested by most cricket experts in the country.