‘If you decode it session by session…’ – Head coach Saqlain Mushtaq believes Pakistan played well despite their 3-0 loss against England

Pakistan faced a humiliating 3-0 defeat against England in their three-match Test series at home. Despite not having put up ideal bowling conditions, the Pakistan team had only a few glimpses of good performances with the bat. On the other hand, Ben Stokes and his team produced some excellent performances with the bat and the ball.

However, Saqlain Mushtaq, the coach of Pakistan, recently remarked that his team played excellent cricket in their Test series against England. After the series, Mushtaq said in an interaction with Geo News Pakistan played excellent cricket if the game was broken down session by session.

“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,” said Mushtaq.

He continued by saying that Pakistan played bravely and got a lot of good play from Mohammad Wasim, Salman Agha, and Saud Shakeel. “We played very bravely. We had a vision of qualifying for the WTC final, but we couldn’t move that way. But there were a lot of positives in Saud, Salman Agha and Mohammad Wasim,” he added.

I would also like to go hide in a corner and cry: Saqlain Mushtaq

The 3-0 loss hurts, but the English players had more experience than his team, according to the former Pakistani spinner. “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,” said Mushtaq.

He continued by saying that England had developed their strategy rather than simply beginning to play under McCullum’s direction. “England worked out this strategy; it wasn’t as if McCullum said play this way and they suddenly did. They thought about it and said, ‘we will try it’. But in this series, we saw they were forced into some traditional batting too. They’re having good days, [and] they’re all on the same page, but only time will tell if it’s all going in the right way,” he concluded.