There were days when defeats against a team like Bangladesh would rankle, and shock us. We were a formidable team and it was not easy to beat us. In 2003, they came close to beating us thrice in three Tests. We ended up winning the series 3-0. The aura of invincibility at home is gone. We have lost five in the last nine games at home.
The world knows that pace used to be our strength but our top fast bowlers no longer bowl at breakneck pace. It was the root cause of the defeat yesterday (at Rawalpindi on Sunday). Their speeds have come down drastically. If they are carrying injuries, they should reveal that. Shaheen (Afridi), Naseem (Shah), and Khurram (Shahzad) started off with pace of 145. They all have come down to 130.
Our trainers and physios are to blame. If you look at a Jofra Archer, he comes back after two years of hiatus but does not lose a yard in his pace. Same with Jasprit Bumrah — he comes back from an operation and bowls with the same velocity. Pat Cummins… he was out of cricket for a long time due to injury. When he came back, he did not show any signs of slowing down. Why are our bowlers slowing down? Obviously, our support staff is not doing a proper job. A bowler of 144 kmph speed has come down to 128 kmph.
The pitch prepared for the Test is meant for a November-December game. In this part of the world, the ball moves in the winter when there is moisture beneath the pitch and in the air too. We’re in August. The weather is dry now. If you play in August, you need spinners and we don’t have quality spinners. We went into the Test without a spinner. There was rain but because of the heat, the conditions got dry. In these hot conditions, the green pitches do not work.
Our cricket season is not meant to start now. We normally start in October and we’ve started playing two months early. However green the surface you have, it gets dried because of the heat. There would not be any assistance for the fast bowlers. It would be different in November-December.
If you see the record, Pindi always produces batting pitches. Rahul Dravid had scored a double hundred (270, in 2004) here. We need pace to play in Pakistan. We need pacers who can reverse swing. On grassy tops, with lush green square, it does not reverse. Kookaburra balls do not suit our conditions. Here the SG or the Duke balls suit us. The hand-stitched balls work better for us. It gives good pace and gives swing.
Our record was much better in the UAE. Yasir Shah was there. We used to beat all the top teams, England, Australia, New Zealand. Since we have come back home, we have not won much. If I remember correctly, we beat only one top team and that is South Africa. It was not a typical green top then and Shaheen and Hasan Ali bowled at 145. Our fast bowlers are effective only in white ball cricket. There are no Test match bowlers left in Pakistan. They can’t bowl 30 overs in a Test match. It is not possible to play Test cricket with this kind of bowling.
Jason Gillespie is a good coach. He has got the experience but it is not easy to read pitches in the sub-continental conditions for foreigners. The locals have to do it. Azhar Mahmood (assistant coach) is supposed to be the expert. But he lives in England. Shan Masood and Babar Azam have played in these conditions and they should have known. They thought grass would do the trick for them. It backfired.
The five-day matches are different from the ODIs and the T20Is. Every session is different in a Test. Bangladesh adapted well. We no longer have quality spinners like we used to, so turning tracks are no longer an option. Instead, we relied on pace, but the tactics backfired. Our bowlers bowled too short, while Bangladesh focused on fuller deliveries, and that made all the difference. They also have quality spinners in Mehidy Hasan Miraz and Shakib Al Hasan. Personally, I would have also included Taijul Islam.
They made the right decision by opting to bowl first, given the conditions, and their early success proved it was the correct call. There was no need to declare (at 448 for six) – they should have aimed for 550. Falling 100 runs short ultimately made the difference. (Mohammad) Rizwan was unbeaten on 171, and Shaheen was also batting well on 30 (29). Those 100 extra runs cost us the game. Bangladesh, on the other hand, read the conditions well and outplayed Pakistan. They wore down the Pakistani bowlers and then capitalized.
