"We didn't think it would dry out so quickly" - Azhar Mahmood surprised by Rawalpindi's surface after day 3 of PAK vs BAN 1st Test
Pakistan's assistant coach Azhar Mahmood has expressed his surprise at the way the surface in Rawalpindi behaved on Day 3 of the first Test against Bangladesh. The former all-rounder also said Pakistan didn't misread the wicket, but it didn't behave the way they expected.
Bangladesh started the day at 27-0 after Pakistan had declared their innings on 448/6. While the hosts got wickets in patches, they failed to wrest enough control to have a chance of a win as Bangladesh reached 316/5 at stumps.
Speaking at a presser after Day 3 (August 23), Mahmood stated that the wicket dried out very quickly, rendering their seamer-heavy attack ineffective. As quoted by ESPN Cricinfo, he said:
"The reason we didn't play a spinner was there was grass on the pitch and we thought it would favour the seamers. We were hoping for that. But the three hours the pitch was sunned before the game started on the first day may have made a difference. The wicket dried out; we didn't think it would dry out so quickly, and that made it play differently."
The 49-year-old elaborated that any team would have played more seamers looking at the pitch, saying:
"Anyone who looked at the wicket would have thought it would be a seaming track. We can't do anything about the fact it didn't behave that way. We didn't make a mistake reading the pitch, it just didn't play like we thought it should."
Pakistan seemed to be regaining control of the game when Saim Ayub dismissed Shakib Al Hasan cheaply. Nevertheless, Litton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim stitched an unbroken 98-run stand to cut down the deficit significantly.
"We were not disciplined enough in the last 12 overs" - Azhar Mahmood
Mahmood also felt Pakistan's indiscipline allowed Bangladesh to play aggressively, explaining:
"We were not disciplined enough in the last 12 overs. If you assess the overall day, we were great in 80 overs. With the second new ball, we strayed from the plan. Then they attacked. We allowed them to play that type of cricket. But you can also score runs easier off the new ball, and they utilised that to great effect."
Pakistan's bowlers must pick up the last five wickets quickly and the batters need to bat aggressively to stand a chance of taking a lead in the two-match series.