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'Test Cricket Punishes Every Mistake You Make,' Says Masood After Series Loss To Bangladesh

Sylhet International Cricket Stadium: Pakistan captain Shan Masood admitted that his side paid the price for repeated mistakes after Bangladesh completed a historic 2-0 Test series sweep with a 78-run victory in the second Test at Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. Pakistan were bowled out for 358 while chasing a daunting target of 437 on the final day despite a strong fight from Mohammad Rizwan, who scored 94, and Salman Agha, who made 71. Spinner Taijul Islam starred with a match-winning spell of 6-120 to seal Bangladeshs first-ever home Test series win over Pakistan. Reflecting on the defeat, Masood said Pakistan had failed to capitalise on key moments across the match and stressed that Test cricket leaves no room for errors. Test cricket punishes every mistake you make. Its unforgiving, and Test cricket is always played by the best of the best. Youre not going to get any easy games, and you really have to grind results out, Masood said after the match. The Pakistan skipper felt his team had opportunities to take control of the game but failed to finish strongly in crucial phases. Weve put ourselves into positions. I can only count a couple of Test matches where weve been completely outplayed, but in every other Test match weve been in positions where we didnt finish well, either with the ball or in the field. Thats something you have to do consistently over five days, and thats the learning this side really needs to take, he said. Masood also pointed to Bangladeshs recovery in the first innings as one of the turning points of the match. Bangladesh were struggling at 116 /6 before recovering to post 278, thanks to lower-order contributions and a century from Litton Das. Especially when they were 116 for 6, the last four wickets ended up scoring a lot of runs. We missed opportunities, and from there, even with the batting, when we got to 142 for 4, and there were two set batsmen in, in Test cricket, you have to go big, Masood added. Masood also pointed to Bangladeshs recovery in the first innings as one of the turning points of the match. Bangladesh were struggling at 116 /6 before recovering to post 278, thanks to lower-order contributions and a century from Litton Das. Also Read: Live Cricket Score The victory marked Bangladeshs fourth consecutive Test win over Pakistan and helped them climb above India to fifth place in the ICC World Test Championship standings. Article Source: IANS