‘If you decode by session…’ – Saqlain Mushtaq views whitewash against England other way
Pakistan faced a humiliating whitewash against the Ben Stokes-led England team as they lost all three Tests that they hosted. With the cricketing situation in chaos, Pakistan cricket is going through one of the rough phases as both the skipper Babar Azam and the chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ramiz Raja are under the radar, with the latter almost days away from getting sacked officially.
While many were busy thrashing the Pakistani team for their poor outing, their head coach Saqlain Mushtaq found a reason to praise the team. To add more, the coach said that if the Test matches are broken down into sessions, Pakistan have an upper hand over the English men.
“If you look at 3-0, it’ll be shocking. But if you decode it session by session, Pakistan played great cricket. The first two matches we could have won. There wasn’t a huge gulf between these two sides. If we’d taken the lead we could have won. The second Test hurt me, but we have to respect the umpire’s decision, even though the whole world recognized that was not a catch,” Mushtaq was quoted as saying to Geo News.
I would like to go hide in a corner and cry: Saqlain Mushtaq
Opening up on the whitewash, Mushtaq said that he was hurt by the same and added that he wanted to cry alone post the loss. The head coach did not shy away from admitting to mistakes and assured of a strong comeback to the Pakistani fans. Pakistan’s next mission would be against New Zealand and it remains to be seen if they could turn things around against the Kiwis, in the two-match Test series that will begin on December 26.
“We played very bravely. We had a vision of qualifying for the Test trophy final, but we couldn’t move that way. But there were a lot of positives in Saud, Salman Agha and Mohammad Wasim. Three-nil hurts. I would also like to go hide in a corner and cry, but if you look at the bigger picture, they had a lot more experience than us. These are not excuses, but experience guides you in key situations, especially in long-form cricket,” Mushtaq said further.
