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Pakistan's red-ball coach Jason Gillespie has backed the under-fire Shan Masood, claiming that he has led the side well despite a humiliating 2-0 series defeat to Bangladesh at home. The former Sydney-born cricketer pointed out that Pakistan haven't played as a team and must sharpen up with the series against England looming.
Pakistan failed to prevent Bangladesh from scoring the remaining 143 runs on Day 5 of the second Test in Rawalpindi and suffered a 2-0 series loss. The six-wicket defeat was Masood's fifth as captain and is yet to win one since being appointed in the role ahead of the Australia tour late last year.
Speaking to reporters after Pakistan's loss in the second Test, Gillespie said he is keen to back the players despite the poor results. He said, as quoted by Cricket Pakistan:
"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."
Pakistan last won a home Test in early 2021 and has since lost to Australia, England, and Bangladesh. Under Babar Azam, they managed to draw the two-Test series against New Zealand.
"We have left the team back into the contest when we were dominating" - Shan Masood
At the post-match presentation, Masood admitted that batting failures did hurt Pakistan, but felt letting Bangladesh back from 26-6 was most disappointing. He stated:
"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."
Pakistan will next face England in three Tests, with the first match beginning on October 7.
