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'I take responsibility for the defeats and I apologise to the nation'
Pakistan's Test captain Shan Masood remained unworried about his future despite a demoralising series defeat against Bangladesh, but admitted that the team was not really prepared for the grind of red-ball cricket.
Bangladesh defeated Pakistan by six wickets in the second Test here on Tuesday to complete a 2-0 series victory – a first in their history. Masood said they need to move forward quickly.
“I take responsibility for the defeats and I apologise to the nation. But I think we need to focus on how we can improve and take our Test side forward,” Masood said in the post-match press meet.
Masood accepted that playing Test cricket after a gap of nearly 10 months was not an easy task.
“There is no excuse for losing this series and we accept that. But it is also a fact that the players also wanted to do well."
“But we were just not prepared for red ball cricket. We have to tolerate some failures if we are to move forward,” he added.
As a first step forward, Masood said the team should try to develop a good pool of fast bowlers.
“The main thing is that we need to build our stocks in fast bowling and need to encourage and give consistent chances to those bowlers who regularly play red ball cricket,” he said.
Pakistan bowlers struggled to make a consistent impact in the second Test after dropping Shaheen Shah Afridi and resting fellow pacer Naseem Shah.
Masood also didn't agree that the last two Tests were the darkest days of Pakistan cricket over three decades.
“That is not a fair assessment because we can never underestimate any opposition and I think Bangladesh played more disciplined cricket over us in both Tests.
“I think Bangladesh need to be respected for their performances in contrast we made too many mistakes,” he added.
Masood said the Test slipped away when Pakistan allowed Bangladesh to recover from 26 for 6 in their first innings and make an eventual 262.
The Pakistan captain also felt that the team should strive to attain better fitness standards.
“In Test cricket you need to have the fitness to last five days and also have the intensity for five days and I think that is one area in which we really need to work a lot more."
“I think because of this we couldn't capitalise on the opportunities to push Bangladesh out of the game,” he added.
The 34-year-old also dismissed suggestions that the management erred while selecting the playing 11.
“Sometimes we can make mistakes in selection but it is not intentional and we picked the best eleven we could given the conditions in both Tests,” he insisted.
“Thing is we need to play more red ball cricket. That is the bottom line,” he added.
Masood defended Babar Azam after the senior batter failed to make an impact in the series, making just 64 runs across two matches at an average of 16.
The skipper said lack of red-ball cricket at domestic level makes it a tough task to find ready replacements.
“We are not playing red ball cricket even at domestic level, so how do we replace out-of-form players. But Babar has made runs in the past and he will do it again,”he said.
Pakistan red ball head coach Jason Gillespie offered his support to Masood.
“Shan, I feel, has led the side very well. We just haven't played well as a team and that's the reality,” Gillespie said.
“We need to sharpen up on certain areas. I really want to back and believe in these players. They are good enough and have shown glimpses of how good we are. We just need to do it more often and consistently,” he added.