- By Namrata Vijay
- Fri, 23 Aug 2024 08:56 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
PAK vs BAN: Saud Shakeel, Pakistan's vice-captain, came in support of skipper Shan Masood's decision to declare their innings on Thursday, the second day of the first Test match against Bangladesh. He revealed that Mohammed Rizwan was informed well in advance that they would be declaring the innings and that there was proper communication in the team. Captain Masood led the team from the front as they played aggressive cricket throughout the day. His decision to declare their innings was lauded by everyone although Mohammed Rizwan was unbeaten on 171 runs.
"I don't think the declaration was made hastily as Rizwan bhai was informed well in advance, in fact in prior. 1-1:30 hours earlier he had an idea about it that we will declare at this time and try we reach around 450," Shakeel told reporters in the post-match press conference. This shows how a skipper sometimes has to make tough decisions for the team and how the team's interest is more important than a player's milestone.
Why did Masood declare the innings?
Pakistan's first innings was declared by Masood during the last session despite Rizwan being unbeaten at 171 although he was inching closer towards his maiden double century in the longest format as he was just shy of 29 runs. The Shan Masood-led side's first innings was declared at 448/6 after 113 overs. Their early declaration highlighted that the Pakistan bowlers were supposed to bowl 12 overs and take as many wickets as possible on Thursday. But Bangladesh openers Zakir Hasan and Shadman Islam survived the first 12 overs and scored 27 runs.
Rizwan Shakeel's record partnership
At the same time, Rizwan and Shakeel stitched a partnership of 240 runs for the fifth wicket, where the vice-captain also lauded Rizwan for batting aggressively. Rizwan smashed his third Test hundred after 890 days and scored an unbeaten knock of 171 runs off 239 balls. At the same time, Shakeel too scored his century in the longest format and became the joint fastest Pakistan batter to have scored 1000 runs.
Mohammad Rizwan also created the record of scoring the highest runs as a wicket-keeper batter in WTC history and also broke Jos Buttler's record of 152 runs against them in 2020.
