"You may have a British passport, but please don't repeat this" - Basit Ali lashes out at Pakistan's assistant coach Azhar Mahmood
Basit Ali believes that Pakistan's assistant coach Azhar Mahmood disrespected the team by wearing his cap backward in the press conference of the side's ongoing Test series opener against Bangladesh. He urged the cricketer-turned-coach not to repeat such antics in the future.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Basit emphasized that he was disappointed to see Mahmood not respect the star on Pakistan's cap. The 53-year-old mentioned that it would have been understandable if a foreign coach did something like this.
Remarking that he didn't expect an ex-Pakistani player to make such a mistake, Basit said (3:24):
"Being a Pakistani, I did not like what Azhar Mahmood did. You have served Pakistan. I wouldn't have said anything had any Australian done something like this. You are wearing Pakistan's cap backwards in the press conference, please don't do such things. Do you not like the star on Pakistan's cap? The country has given so much. You may have a British passport, but please don't repeat this."
Pakistan registered 448/6 after being asked to bat first in the ongoing Rawalpindi Test. Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel were the top performers with the bat, scoring 171* and 141, respectively.
In response, the Bangladeshi batters did a commendable job. They were bowled out for 565. Veteran keeper-batter Mushfiqur Rahim stole the show with his 191-run knock.
"We didn't make a mistake reading the pitch" - Azhar Mahmood on Pakistan playing an all-pace bowling attack
Speaking in the press conference, Azhar Mahmood mentioned that he was surprised to see the Rawalpindi pitch behave differently than they had expected. He also defended the team management's decision to play an all-pace bowling attack.
Azhar Mahmood said in a press conference:
"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."
"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 finished on 23/1 at stumps on Day 4, trailing Bangladesh by 94 runs. The final day of the contest promises to be an exciting one, with all three results possible.