u/Dabi--

A lot has been made about the fact that Bangladesh's pace attack is faster and better than Pakistan and one of the key reasons why we lost the series. The numbers, however, tell a different story. I have mapped the 3 main reasons why we lost the series:

Toothless Spin Attack

Pakistan's spinners took 8 wickets at an average of 55. Bangladesh's took 22 wickets @ 22.

4-6 of our 8 wickets came when Bangladesh was hitting out for a declaration. Strip those out and our spinners averaged well over 100!

You can credit Bangladesh's batting or blame our technique against spin but on good cricket wickets, spinners averaging triple digits means only one thing: they were woefully ineffective.

Ironically, our pace attack actually outperformed theirs:

• Pakistan pace: 31 wickets @ 27
• Bangladesh pace: 18 wickets @ 34

Poor Start Conversion

The second major difference was conversion. Both teams made 9 fifty-plus scores in the series. What was different was what they did once they crossed 50:

• Bangladesh: average 88, with 3 centuries
• Pakistan: average 72, with 1 century

That meant Bangladesh's nine 50+ knocks produced 140 more runs than ours. The series margin was roughly 180 runs. That gap is the entire series!

Under-50 innings average was the same for both teams. The difference was purely that when Bangladesh's batters got in, they cashed in. Ours either gave it away or switched off once set.

Captain & Coach Decision Making

I will mention 3 problems here:

• In the first Test, Pakistan left out Khurram, our best red-ball pacer in recent years
• Chose to bowl first in the 1st Test, misreading the behaviour of the pitch over 5 days.
• Field placement: Once the opposition tail arrives, we stop attacking the set batter and go fully defensive. The free rotation runs allows for risk-free cricket and it's part of the reason Bangladesh made more 100s than us.

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Player Ratings

Khurram Shahzad: 8 wkts @ 21 - 8.5/10
Statistically the best pace bowler across both teams with the best avg & best SR. The only critique is that he loses pace and bite in his 3rd spell. He could have had a bigger impact if he played both tests.

M. Abbas: 10 wkts @ 24 - 8/10
While Nahid Rana got all the plaudits for his pace, Abbas took only 1 less wicket at a slightly better average. Once the ball goes soft, Abbas loses his threat but makes it up for being miserly.

Babar Azam: 115 runs @ 58 - 7.5/10
Looked like a million bucks when batting in both innings, it is a shame he could not convert to a bigger score, falling both times to very soft dismissals.

Salman Agha: 176 runs @ 44 - 7/10
Made two 50s, both in difficult circumstances but failed to convert both times.

M. Rizwan: 181 runs @ 45 - 6/10
Batting wise he was similar to Agha, 2 50s, one excellent 94 but I cut some points for his untidy keeping.

Azan Awais: 152 runs @ 38 - 6/10
Made a delectable 100 in the first innings and went missing since then. Still young and will improve but Test cricket has a steep learning curve.

Abdullah Fazal: 141 runs @ 35 - 6/10
Two important 50s in the first match but could not convert either one. Less orthodox than Azan but looks to have a fighting spirit.

Shaheen Afridi: 5 wkts @ 33 - 4/10
Bowled 1 or 2 good spells but other than that was very erratic and looked at sea in test cricket.

Shan Masood: 103 runs @ 26 - 3/10
Almost all his runs came in 1 innings, gave his wicket away on too many occasions and captaincy was poor in both tests.

Imam ul Haq: 47 runs @ 24 - 3/10
Made a scratchy 45, which included a few chances when batting was easiest.

Hasan Ali: 8 wkts @ 32 - 3/10
The avg may not look bad but he benefited a lot from BD giving their wickets away in search of a declaration. Apart from those periods, he lacked incisiveness and had the highest SR of any pacer in the series.

Noman Ali: 4 wkts @ 39 - 2/10
Completely ineffectual - got 3 wickets when BD was accelerating, otherwise carried no threat.

Sajid Khan: 4 wkts @ 56 - 1/10
Same as Noman, got his 3 wickets when batters were hitting out. His bowling was worse than Noman's but gets a point for the runs he made.

Saud Shakeel: 29 runs @ 7 - 0/10
Taskin Ahmed made almost double the runs that Saud did. Enough said.