Shan Masood defends controversial selection call following first ever Test loss to Bangladesh

Rawalpinidi: Pakistan captain Shan Masood on Sunday defended the decision to select four pace bowlers and no specialist spinner for the first Test, which the hosts lost to Bangladesh by 10 wickets.

It was Pakistan’s first ever defeat against Bangladesh in a Test.

Masood, who failed with the bat in both innings, refused to admit that it was a bad call to go in without a specialist spinner even after Shakib ul Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz shared seven wickets on the final day to bowl out Pakistan for just 146 runs.

“We had anticipated the pitch to offer more assistance to the seamers. Looking at the pitch, we expected it to do more,” he said at the post match conference.

“If we played 3 fast bowlers, we would be pushing them to the limit and the spinner would be bowling 25-30 overs a day, which we wanted to avoid.

"We thought that with the weather, it may not even last the full 5 days. At the end of the day, we got it wrong,” he said.

Shan also said that the decision to declare the first innings on 448 for six was taken to push for a result.

“We wanted to go for a win in the match and thus felt we had enough runs on the board to declare. But the Bangladesh batters showed a lot of discipline and intent in their first innings. Mushfiq and Miraz batted really well,” he added.

“We felt that with 448 runs we could get a crack at them in the fourth innings.”

"We could have done with more runs but there were also things with the ball and in the field that we could’ve done better to either take a lead or keep them at par,” he said.

Chasing just 30 runs, openers Zakir Hasan and Shadman Islam guided Bangladesh to the target in 6.3 overs without losing a wicket.

Pakistan, starting the day at 65 for 2, crumbled against Bangladesh’s spinners, losing their last eight wickets for just 81 runs.

The Pakistan skipper conceded it was not the ideal start to the home season where the team had to play a total of seven Tests at home and two away in South Africa.

“We just have to now get everything right and try to level the series in the world test championship,” he said.

Sunday’s defeat was Shan’s fourth straight defeat as captain after Pakistan's 0-3 whitewash at the hands of Australia last winter.