'Shan I feel has led the side very well' - Jason Gillespie backs skipper Masood amidst intense heat after Rawalpindi drubbing

Shan Masood has been at the receiving end as he became the first Pakistan captain to lose a Test against Bangladesh after the inaugural game of the series loss. To rub salt into the wounds, the visitors managed to outshine the hosts in the second Test in Rawalpindi on September 3. With Pakistan losing the series by 2-0, newly appointed red-ball coach, Jason Gillespie has backed Masood in testing times.

Bangladesh were six wickets down in their first innings with less than 30 runs on the board. Ironically, the Bangla Tigers managed to orchestrate a six-wicket win on Day 5 of the second Test. The tactical ability of the captain came under the scanner and Gillespie felt that the 34-year-old led the side very well.

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"Shan I feel has led the side very well. We just haven’t played well as a team and that’s the reality. We need to sharpen up on certain areas and we will sharpen up. I really want to back and believe in these players, they are good enough and have shown glimpses of how good we are. We just need to do it more often and consistently,” said Gillespie as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.

We should have done better from having them at 26/6: Masood 

Speaking of Pakistan’s Test record at home, the team managed to draw the series against New Zealand and barring that, things have gone down south. They last managed to win a home series back in 2021 and have just been hospitable to visitors over the years. Their recent loss aligns with the drubbing received from Australia and England. Masood acknowledged that the team is losing the plot in crunch situations. 

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"We thought we were playing good cricket in Australia but not doing the job, that's something we need to work on. It has happened four times in my tenure that we have left the team back into the contest when we were dominating. 274 was a good score in the first innings, me and Saim [Ayub] could have got more runs like Litton. But we should have done better from having them at 26/6. That's something we need to work on and work on quickly,” said Masood.