“Use their mistakes to stay in the game” – Saud Shakeel says Pakistan plan to use Bazball against England ahead of 1st Test
Pakistan vice-captain Saud Shakeen has claimed that the hosts will try to use England’s aggressive game against them in the first Test in Multan, which starts on October 7. Shakeel added that the Men in Green would come up with better tactics and implement the lessons they learned from their previous series where they lost by 3-0 in 2022/23.
Shakeel, who was Pakistan’s second-highest leading run-scorer in the above Test series, said in a press conference (via ESPNcricinfo):
"England always play attacking cricket, and that always gives you an opportunity to induce mistakes in them, and to use their mistakes to stay in the game."
"The last series we played against England, there were times we were quite close to winning, such as Rawalpindi and Multan, but we couldn't finish it off," he added.
“That’s the point of concern” – Saud Shakeel on Pakistan’s weakness ahead of Test series against England
Saud Shakeel addressed that Pakistan have failed to deliver with the bat, which is the primary reason behind them losing five games in a row in the red-ball format. On this, Shakeel said:
"We're struggling with the bat from time to time, and unable to convert starts into huge scores. That's a point of concern. The series that's over is now in the past. Admittedly we didn't play well there. Our focus is on what's ahead."
"But we don't follow any particular style playing cricket, we play according to the requirement of any situation, which gives us flexibility," he added.
Notably, Pakistan lost their last home Test series against Bangladesh by a 2-0 margin. The newly appointed captain Shan Masood has lost all his first five games as captain, including a 0-3 loss in Australia earlier this year. The Men in Green will be keen to turn things around in the three-match Test series against England.
Squads
England’s playing XI for 1st Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse (debut), Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir.
Pakistan’s squad for 1st Test: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper), and Shaheen Shah Afridi.