Shan Masood exposes 'harsh reality' after Pakistan's Multan Test loss, delivers verdict on pitch

Pakistan National Cricket Team skipper Shan Masood talked about the horrendous loss against the England National Cricket Team in the first Test. He said that the opposition found a way to win the game and also shared his verdict on the pitch at Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan.

Shan Masood suffered his 6th straight loss in Test cricket as Pakistan National Cricket Team captain. England National Cricket Team thrashed the hosts by a massive margin of innings and 47 runs to go 1-0 up in the three-match Test series.

Pakistan National Cricket Team were humiliated by the England National Cricket Team as they, even after being at the top for two days, went on to lose the game. Batting first, they posted a gigantic total of 556 runs based on the tons by Shan Masood, Abdullah Shafique, and Salman Ali Agha.

But after that, nothing went their way as their bowling was made look ordinary. England, on account of the triple century by Harry Brook (317) and a double ton by Joe Root (262), posted a total of 823 runs on the board. They also took a lead of over 200 runs in the first innings. With the bat then, Pakistan struggled to get going as they got all out for 220 runs to suffer an innings and 47 runs loss.

The harsh reality is that England found a way after being under the sun for two days - Shan Masood

Shan Masood admitted that England found a way despite the first two days not going their way. He credited the opposition for executing the plans. He claimed that a quality team will always find a way to get going, irrespective of the pitch. Speaking to reporters, he explained:

"The harsh reality is that England found a way after being under the sun for two days and being 556 runs behind, and we did not. They picked 10 wickets to give themselves a chance to bat and bat big. When they came back with the ball, they had a plan, and they had a window of opportunity with the new ball and the cracks [on the pitch] open.

"The harsh reality is that no matter what the pitch is, the quality sides will find a way and learning for us is to find a way when we play Test cricket."

Shan Masood delivers verdict on Multan pitch

Shan Masood also talked about the pitch at the Multan Cricket Stadium, saying that people take the pitch too seriously. He claimed that they pick the Team based on the conditions and prepare according to that. He added:

"The pitch that we have talked about, I think we take the pitch very literally. You tell your expectations and your plans. You pick your squads according to your pitches and conditions. But there are a lot of things that you can't control, you can't control its behaviour.

"Like I said earlier, we played our last test match in Multan in 2022, and that was a different pitch. We prepared it differently, and our squad was different. England's squad was also different, so we prepared it differently." said Shan Masood.

Shan Masood mentioned that they expected the pitch to break very soon, and that was the main reason they batted for a long in the first innings. He said that England taught them a way to play on this pitch as they took 20 wickets. He explained:

"Here, we expected that this pitch would start breaking very soon. Like around, maybe at the end of day 2, at the start of day 3. That's why we tried to extend the first innings as much as we could. England has taught us one thing, and that is a harsh reality for us.

"That you have to find a way out. They have found a way out and they have taken 20 wickets. So you can't say that you can't take 20 wickets on this pitch. So, to find an easy way out, that if we had made the conditions easier, then maybe there wouldn't have been even 550 runs. So you have to juggle; as a team, you have to find a way out. And as a team, the formula of Test cricket, which we have explained earlier, you can't win a Test match without taking 20 wickets and getting good first innings score."

Conditions will keep changing and we need to find a way - Shan Masood

Shan Masood pointed out the things that they need to work on, saying that they need to learn how they can get a result in the match. He also stressed both the teams had similar XIs in terms of combination, but England found the way, and they couldn't execute. He elaborated:

"So these are the things we have to work on. And we don't have to see whether we have to save the match or lose the match. We have to see how to get the match result and how to get the winning result. We will get the winning result when we set up the match with batting, and we will take 20 wickets with bowling. No matter what the pitch is. It was the same pitch for England and Pakistan.

"And the lineups of both were almost similar. Three pacers played, and two spinners played. And there was depth in batting with all-rounders. Like Aamer Jamal gave us, and they had Woakes, Carse and Atkinson. So, the lineups of both teams were the same according to the conditions. They found a way out and we didn't execute that well. So our challenge is that this is a five-day Test match, the conditions will keep changing and we need to find a way." Shan Masood concluded.