‘They haven’t won a Test at home in over 1000 days’

NEW DELHI: India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin felt sorry for the geats of the Pakistan cricket team after their team slumped to a new low, suffering a whitewash against Bangladesh at home. Bangladesh beat Pakistan in the first Test in Rawalpindi by 10 wickets to register their first win against them in the longest format of the game and then went on to beat them in the second and final Test at the same venue by six wickets to complete a historic series win. The victory in the second Test would taste sweeter to the Bangladesh side as they were 26/6 in their first innings at one stage.

Pakistan, on the other hand, squandered its advantage to crash into yet another defeat at home. This was the 10th consecutive winless Test match at home for Pakistan. They have lost six of those and drawn four. Their last Test win at home was more than three and half years ago against South Africa in February 2021.

The result slumped their Test ranking to No.8 and their rating points to the worst since 1965.

Ashwin said it was disappointing to see the state of Pakistan cricket.

“What a victory for Bangladesh but what a disappointment for Pakistan. It’s quite disappointing because Pakistan is not an easy team to beat. But more than 1000 days at home Pakistan haven’t won at home. Pakistani cricket fans are passionate,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.

India’s second-highest wicket-taker in Tests pointed the legacy of Pakistan cricket to express his shock at the current performance. “You know who I feel for the most? It’s Pakistan cricket’s history. Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Imran Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Ijaz Ahmed,, Salim Malik, Saeed Anwar, Amer Sohail… I can just keep on going. What legacy that country and their cricket team has.”

Ashwin took nothing away from Pakistan, whom he called a much-improve Test side because of mixture of youth and experience in their line-up, said it was difficult to even think of beating Pakistan like this 10 years ago.

“Of course, Bangladesh have come a long way. I don’t take anything away from them. Last year, when we toured Bangladesh, we knew what a good Test side Bangladesh is. They have got a lot of experience in Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mehidy Hasan and they have also got some good young talent.

“Keeping all this aside, to see where Pakistan cricket where it is now… It was difficult to beat them even 10 years ago when Misbah, Younis Khan were there and they played their home matches in the UAE. You had the likes of Yasir Shah, you had two left-arm spinners in Adbur Rahman and Zulfiqar Babar coming in. Where they (Pakistan team) are right now, I can’t believe it,” Ashwin added.

Ashwin feels bad for Pakistan captain Shan Masood

Ashwin said he felt “terribly bad” for Pakistan captain Shan Masood, who has won all five Tests since taking over the captaincy duties from Babar Azam and pointed out possible issues in the Pakistan dressing room.

“I feel terribly bad for someone like Shan Masood. Shan Masood is a very smart cricketer. I know that guy. He speaks a lot of sense. He can be a really good captain for Pakistan. But handling a Pakistan team at this point, where somebody like Babar Azam is not the captain and he’s the poster boy of Pakistan, it cannot be an easy dressing room,” he added.

Agencies

Agencies