India’s spinner Ravichandran Ashwin commented on Pakistan’s dramatic batting collapse in the second innings of the first Test against Bangladesh.
Pakistan succumbed to a 10-wicket defeat against Bangladesh in the opening Test of the two-match series, underway in Rawalpindi.
The defeat was Pakistan’s first ever against Bangladesh in Test cricket.
Following the defeat, several strategies, such as going with an all-pace attack, declaration and batting failure in the second innings, came under questions.
Pakistan, after being put into bat first, accumulated 448/6 and declared their first innings in the dying minutes of the second day.
Bangladesh, in response, piled up a mammoth total of 565, courtesy of Mushfiqur Rahim’s marathon 191-run knock, before bundling out in the third session of the fourth day.
The first Test was assumed to be heading towards a draw but Pakistan’s batting lineup faltered on the final day and could score 146, setting Bangladesh a meagre 30-run target.
The Bangladesh openers made no mistake in chasing down a paltry total and steered their side to a historic victory over Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin reacted to Pakistan’s gut-wrenching defeat against Bangladesh, stating that the home side surprised him with their batting failure in the second innings.
“The match was in sleep mode for the first three days. Suddenly, Pakistan surprised me with a surprise when I was about to catch a flight. When I saw the highlights of the match, I understood one thing. The proper, tiring collapse on a final day. I haven’t seen that for a long time,” he said on his YouTube channel.
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He further stated that teams can not surrender on such batting-friendly pitches.
“Teams don’t surrender in a pitch like this. In first-class cricket, strong teams will bat first and hit big. The wicket will be a batting wicket. In those two days, they will pull off an all-out in a tired state. When the wicket crumbles, they will get all out again. I got that depiction. There is nothing in the pitch. It’s an absolute road,” he said.
Ravichandran Ashwin acknowledged Mohammad Rizwan’s fighting knock in the second innings where no other Pakistan batter could put up a fight.
“In fact, in the end, Rizwan was staging a fight. I didn’t understand a thing. Naseem Shah played a shot and left cheaply. I didn’t understand what just happened. I didn’t understand a thing,” the Indian cricketer concluded.
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