Shan Masood lamented “the same mistakes” Pakistan continue to make after slipping to an eighth successive Test defeat in South Africa and their seventh in their last nine matches. In a topsy-turvy match, the final twist belonged to South Africa as they recovered from an epic collapse that saw them lose four wickets in three runs to register an unbeaten 50-ball partnership and 51 runs which clinched victory by two wickets, and alongside it’s a place in the World Test Championship final.
“We had the game in hand, whether with the bat or the ball,” Masood said. “I have nothing to add and it sounds like a broken record. [I’m] extremely proud of the effort put in, but to move forward as a team we have to be ruthless. We played well in these conditions and I said it before when we played in Australia in similar conditions. We had the match by the scruff of the neck and even here on two occasions we had them eight down and we thought we were in a reasonable position and even with the bat, when we could have extended our score in both sets .
Although Pakistan have not won in South Africa since 2007, they have never come as close as in this Test. But collapses with the bat in both innings – they lost 4 for 22 in the first innings and 7 for 84 in the second – were compounded by the pitch’s toothlessness against the tail: South Africa’s partnerships at the ninth and tenth wickets added a total of 139 across two innings for the loss of only two wickets.
“The four rounds [cost us]”, Masood said. “We can only look at ourselves. You’re going to make mistakes over several days, but you need a cushion. I wondered when the time would come when we could get that advantage with the bat, in the first and third innings, or if it would be with the ball when we had them down eight twice. We didn’t have that cushion, and then you get partnerships like Bosch and Rabada and Jansen’s innings, and you don’t have enough cushion to maintain a winning position. »
The inability to kill matches is a familiar theme for Masood, one he has emphasized so often that he is conscious of sounding “like a broken record”. In Australia, Pakistan found themselves in a position of dominance – or at least parity – in two of the three Tests, as well as in both matches against Bangladesh. Pakistan has reduced and changed its personnel; the bowlers, coaches and selection committee were all reorganized during this period. Masood, however, maintained that his team had the capacity to cross the finish line.
“I don’t think it’s a quality issue. The quality is there, and we’ve seen it at different times. Being a top team, being in South Africa’s place, playing in a final of the WTC, these are the things where you have to be ruthless.
“Sometimes you learn the hard way. You can’t use it as an excuse, but the more we play Test cricket, the more people get in sync. A lot of players were playing for the first time in these conditions. It can be a lesson very tough where you feel like you’re putting pressure on the other team, but you still have to finish the job.
“It can also be felt that we have a very good partnership with Saud [Shakeel] and Babar [Azam]or Kamran [Ghulam] And [Mohammad] Rizwan, or me and Saim [Ayub] in both rounds and you feel like you can take them on and get a good score. We are never put in these conditions, whether with the bat or the ball. We learn the hard way through defeat, but the challenge is that we have to respond to it and make sure that once we are in a winning position, we have to make sure that we win the game rather than bring it back. other team. “
There was still enough encouragement from the Pakistan captain to highlight the contributions he felt deserved more. Mohammad Abbas, playing, at 34, his first Test in over three years, bowled an unbroken 19.3 overs in the second innings as he dropped out to claim a hat-trick victory for Pakistan, recording his best figure career 6-for-54 in the second. sleeves. He is now three wickets away from 100 and has the best Test bowling average for a Pakistani in history (minimum 15 wickets).
“The message is clear, age is just a number,” Masood said. “What’s disappointing is that a performance like that should be on the winning side. I also thought Saud Shakeel’s innings [was excellent] – if we had batted a little better with him – he would have had a hundred. Both performances deserved to be on the winning side, and unfortunately that’s not the case.”
