Bangladesh 'A' bring Pakistan Shaheens down to earth

It is often said that Pakistan cricket’s think-tank ignores its bench strength as it continues to rely on tried-and-tested players despite below-par results.

But are the country’s second-tier cricketers good enough for national duty?

If the defeat of Pakistan Shaheens – a team consisting of mainly back-up national players – against Bangladesh 'A' in Darwin on Monday is any indicator then there should be plenty of cause for concern for the think-tank.

After winning the first four-day match against Bangladesh convincingly, the Shaheens seemed set to seal a series-wining triumph in the second game. But on the final day of the match, they fell five runs short of the 296-run target at the DXC Arena in Darwin.

The pendulum kept swinging all day as Bangladesh ‘A’ bowlers took the required six wickets, striking at regular intervals, while Shaheens’ batters dug deep, eventually falling five runs short.

The fourth day’s play saw 56.2 overs bowled while Shaheens scored 154 runs. Bangladesh ‘A’ skipper Mahmudul Hasan Joy led the team from front with a match-winning five-wicket haul with his figures reading 5-21 in 13 overs.

At the beginning of the day, Shaheens required 160 runs to win with Haseebullah and Tayyab Tahir on the crease. Haseebullah (51, 120b, 7x4s) departed after adding seven runs to his overnight total of 44. At this point, Tayyab (43, 97b, 3x4s) and Omair Bin Yousuf (45, 103b, 4x4s) joined forces to stitch a dogged 65-run sixth-wicket partnership off 21 overs before the former succumbed to Mahmudul in 66th over.

Omair’s resistance too came to an end some 57 balls later when he was caught by Mollah off Mahmudul with Mohammad Ali on the other end and Shaheens requiring 65 runs to win. Khurram Shahzad and Ali produced a spirited eight-wicket stand of 57 runs which came off 93 balls keeping Bangladesh ‘A’ at bay.

Mahmudul cleaned up Ali, who had scored 21 off 63 balls hitting four fours, with Shaheens still eight runs away from win. Seven balls later Khurram’s 57-ball rearguard, yielding 28 valuable runs with the help of three fours and one six, was ended by Mahmudul.

Faisal Akram faced seven balls for his solitary run before he was bowled by Hasan Murad to give Bangladesh ‘A’ series-levelling victory. Mahmudul was aided by Rejaur Rehman Raja and Hasan Murad who returned figures of 3-85 and 2-62 respectively.