Pakistan’s red-ball head coach, Jason Gillespie, has explained his stance to exclude bowlers Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah from the second Test against Bangladesh.
Pakistan lost to Bangladesh by six wickets at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, their first series defeat against the Asian side.
The coach said after the game, “We felt that the attack we put on the park would be able to do the job. We could argue they did when we had the opposition 26/6, but they fought themselves back into the game. At that point, not many people were talking about selection.”
The Pakistan team fielded three pacers - Mir Hamza, Khurram Shahzad, and Mohammad Ali - while benching Shaheen and Naseem.
“We looked at the conditions, saw the surface here, and thought this was the best make-up of the bowling attack to take wickets on this surface,” Jason explained.
He concluded, “Shan I feel has led the side very well. We just haven’t played well as a team, and that’s the reality. We need to sharpen up on certain areas, and we will sharpen up. 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.”
So far, PCT has lost five straight Tests - three against Australia and two against Bangladesh -in the ongoing World Test Championship.
