Pakistan Test skipper Shan Masood has defended the move to drop star pacers Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah for the second Test of the two-match series. Pakistan was thrashed by Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.

Masood Backs Decision To Drop Naseem Shah And Shaheen Afridi

Days ahead of the second Test, Pakistan had made a huge call of dropping Shaheen and Naseem considering recent dismal form of the duo. Having said that, the pace trio of Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, and Khurram Shahzad did an excellent job in the first innings, but their effectiveness was reduced later on in the match. Masood backed the decision and said that Shaheen and Naseem play across all formats and the team management has got to be aware of their work-load management. Masood also declared the requirement for finding other potential players for the future.

“Like I said, it’s never doom and gloom. You always keep trying, you always come back. You always learn from your mistakes and you try and give people a chance. And I think that we’re heading in the right direction. We have been consistent with selection, we had Khurram, Muhammad Ali Daisy, and Mir Hamza play this test series,” Masood said in the post-match presentation.

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“We are trying to keep consistency with red ball performances as well. We’ve got Shaheen and Nasim back in the fold as well. We can’t be harsh on them because they’re playing all three formats. If Shaheen has played consistently for a year, you can’t just throw them in every game. And you have to build up your stocks as well. So we’ve got a lot to look at,” he added.

On Day 4, Jason Gillespie, the Test head coach of Pakistan, spoke on the decision to leave Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah out of the playing XI, underlining that they try to avoid making the side reliant upon just one or two individuals. The legendary Australian fast bowler wanted to see Shaheen fulfill his full potential and do good at the big stage.

“There are a few things that we are hoping Shaheen can work on. He had a pretty eventful time in his personal life as well. We want Shaheen Afridi to be at his very best for as much cricket as possible. He is an all-format player, and we have a pretty heavy schedule, and we want him to be fit and firing,” he said.

Heavy Criticism For Pakistan Team

The quality of Pakistan’s batsmen has been questioned by their former greats like Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq, while Ahmed Shehzad chose to take a lighter dig at the home team, saying Bangladesh showed them what Test cricket is.

Shehzad praised Bangladesh for playing quality cricket

“Bangladesh whitewashed Pakistan in their own backyard,” Shehzad said in a video on his YouTube channel. “You guys just cannot compete. The situation in Bangladesh wasn’t ideal (political unrest and violence) and the team even trained for the series in Pakistan. They dominated throughout be it their batting or bowling. They taught Pakistan the grit that’s needed to play Test cricket. Their bowlers taught Pakistan what discipline is.”

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Shehzad also mentioned about how Pakistan batters could not deal with pace and movement.

“If you can’t handle a bit of pace and movement even at home then the future is not very bright for us,” he said.