Pakistan's shocking defeat to Bangladesh in the First Test has triggered a sense of discontent within the Pakistani dressing room, as reports have claimed an altercation between skipper Shan Masood and pacer Shaheen Afridi.
Pakistan lost the first Test to Bangladesh in Dhaka after having failed to extend a lead in the first innings. Mohammad Rizwan was being blamed for being dismissed for just 59 runs after having played a rash shot.
Being a senior cricketer, the coaching staff could not slam the wicket-keeper batter but asked him to realise his responsibility. They collapsed in the second innings for just 163 runs and lost the game by a massive margin.
Shan Masood blamed the lack of pace from Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi for the defeat against Bangladesh
Pakistan's shocking defeat led to a massive war of words between the senior players in the team's dressing room after an altercation between skipper Shan Masood and under-performing pace bowling spearhead Shaheen Afridi.
“A disgruntled Shan blamed the lack of speed from the pace attack, pointing a finger at Shaheen, whose average speed was 132 kph, much below the pace of Bangladesh's Nahid Rana, who bowled around 145 kph on average,” sources told Telecom Asia Sport.
“We failed to create pressure because of a lack of speed, and that is alarming,” Shan Masood told the bowlers.
Shan Masood blamed it entirely on the pacer; however, he only managed to pick five wickets in the match across the two innings with an economy of around 3.5. However, he was not effective in the match, as the red ball could not act without the sheer pace.
Shaheen fired back at the Pakistan skipper: "Mind your own performance with the bat."
In return for the harsh remarks on Shaheen Afridi, the Pakistan pacer rebuked the skipper of the red-ball side. He said that the team instead struggled due to batting failures, and the captain himself should mind his own performance.
“To this, Shaheen hit back by blaming the poor batting that failed to get a first-innings lead and told the skipper to mind his own performance with the bat,” said the source.
Shan Masood, the skipper of the Pakistan side, only managed to return with scores of nine and two across the two innings of the First Test. This was the lowest return for the top four batters from either of the two sides.
Pakistan slipped in the WTC points table with eight points docked
To add to the massive defeat, Pakistan was docked eight points for having maintained a slow over rate, and this led the Pakistan team to slip to the eighth position in the points table, only above West Indies, who are yet to win any game in the WTC.
"The blame for the slow overrate squarely lies on skipper Shan, as he was constantly informed by the team analyst of the slow overrate session by session, but the captain and bowlers failed to control that. It is a massive blow to Pakistan's WTC (World Test Championship) chances,” said the source.
Shaheen Afridi has been dropped from the second Test, and Khurram Shahzad has been included in the XI, while Babar Azam is also likely to return to the mix against opener Imam-ul-Haq.
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