File photo of Azhar Mahmood.© Instagram
Pakistan assistant coach Azhar Mahmood revealed on Friday that they didn’t use spinners on day three of the first Test match against Bangladesh because there was grass on the pitch at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. During Bangladesh’s first inning on day three, Khurram Shahzad led the Pakistan bowling attack after he picked up two wickets. Naseem Shah, Naseem Shah and Saim Ayub bagged one wicket each in their respective spells after the end of the third day. Speaking at the post-day press conference, Mahmood said that the team management thought the grass on the wicket would favour the seamers.
“The reason we didn’t play a spinner was there was grass on the pitch and we thought it would favour the seamers. We were hoping for that. But the three hours the pitch was sunned before the game started on the first day may have made a difference. The wicket dried out; we didn’t think it would dry out so quickly, and that made it play differently,” Mahmood was quoted by ESPNcricinfo as saying.
He added that the batters had a greater chance of making mistakes when the wicket had pace, bounce or a sharp spin.
“The combination we made required a pitch with pace and bounce, and for that wicket to play like we expected. But that didn’t happen. When the wicket has pace and bounce or sharp spin, there’s a greater chance of the batters making mistakes. When the pitch is slow, the batters have extra time,” he added.
In the match, Bangladesh won the toss and put Pakistan to bat first. After Pakistan struggled at 16/3 with the loss of their top order, including skipper Babar Azam for a duck, Saim Ayub (56 in 98 balls, with four boundaries and a six) provided support to Shakeel in bringing Pakistan back on track with a 98 run partnership. Then a 240-run partnership with Mohammed Rizwan (171* in 239 balls, with 11 fours and three sixes) and a cameo from Shaheen Shah Afridi (29* in 24 balls, with a four and two sixes) took Pakistan to a big score of 448/6.
Hasan Mahmud (2/70) and Shoriful Islam (2/77) were the top bowlers for Bangladesh.
Bangladesh ended day three at 3316/5, with Mushfiqur Rahim (55*) and Litton Das (52*) still on the crease.
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