Pakistan were forced to drop under-fire fast bowler Shaheen Afridi from the team for the second Test against Bangladesh after suffering a stunning 10-wicket defeat in the opening match of the series.
Afridi has been misfiring in the longer formats for some time now, especially after the serious knee injury he suffered a couple of seasons back.
His pace was down considerably in the first Test and that made his position vulnerable.
Last week, Bangladesh recorded their maiden Test win against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. Pakistan crashed to 146 against the spin of Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz on the fifth and final day, losing the match by 10 wickets despite declaring the first innings on 448-6.
“Afridi us working on some things with his bowling to be as effective as he possibly can be,” coach Jason Gillespie said. “We certainly want to see Shaheen at his very best, because we know we’ve got a lot of cricket in all formats.”
Afridi looked far from effective with the red ball and had to wait until Pakistan took the third new ball to strike, finishing with 2-88 off his 30 overs.
"We've had a good conversation with him, and he fully understands and appreciates the thinking behind it. Shaheen's been given some feedback," Gillespie added.
Pakistan's ploy to pick an all-pace attack on a greenish looking pitch at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium backfired completely as Bangladesh - led by Mushfiqur Rahim’s 191 - posted a mammoth total of 565 in the first innings and got a vital 117-run lead before decimating Pakistan's bating through spin on the final day.
They have now roped in leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed to try and level the series with the second Test starting on Friday, again in Rawalpindi.
Ahmed was surprisingly released before the first Test and played a four-day game against Bangladesh A in Islamabad.
Pakistan was also docked six World Test Championship points by the ICC for slow over rate which left Gillespie unhappy. The Shan Masood-led side is languishing at eighth in the standings just ahead of the West Indies.
“That’s something we did speak about as a whole team because our over-rates were poor in the first test and unacceptable, it’s as simple as that,” Gillespie said.
Pakistan's top-order batsmen are struggling, especially captain Masood and Babar Azam. Masood hasn’t scored a century in his last 13 Test matches. The left-handed batsman scored a couple of half-centuries before Australia swept Pakistan 3-0 in Masood’s debut series as the Test captain last year.
Azam has gone without a half-century in his last seven Test matches. His best score was 41 against Australia at Perth late last year. The former all-format captain avoided a pair against Bangladesh in the first Test where he was dropped by wicketkeeper Litton Das in the second innings.
In sharp contrast, Bangladesh's top and and lower order batted around Mushfiqur’s brilliant century; Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Das and Mehidy hit dogged half-centuries.
“We talked about spending time in the middle, getting their fast bowlers to come and bowl second and third spells,” Sri Lanka coach Chanbdika Hathurusingha said. “Our gameplan was slightly different because the conditions helped a lot to put up a good show with the bat.”
Since gaining Test status in 2000, Bangladesh have only won two of their 32 overseas series with wins in the West Indies (2009) and Zimbabwe (2021), drawing three and losing 27.
Bangladesh's pace attack will be boosted by the return of experienced Taskin Ahmed who recovered from a shoulder injury but will have to fight for place in the team with Nahid Rana, who impressed with his express pace.
Intermittent rain and bad weather in Rawalpindi prevented both teams from having a practice session.
