‘We need to be ruthless’- Shan Masood reflects on Pakistan not being able to close the match

Masood reflects on Pakistan’s loss in Centurion. (Source – PCB)

The Pakistan team is 0-1 down in the Test series against South Africa after losing a nail-biting Boxing Day Test at Centurion by two wickets. The visitors could not capitalize on the moments when they had a chance to get the better of the Proteas.

The Pakistan bowlers had the opposition at 99-8 chasing 148, but the ninth-wicket partnership between Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen made sure South Africa took the game away from the visitors. Pakistan skipper Shan Masood spoke about what went wrong in the game and explained the need to be ruthless in some of the key moments of the game. He also highlighted how the innings from Corbin Bosch, Marco Jansen, and Kagiso Rabada changed the game.

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“We had the game in our hand, whether with the bat or the ball, I don’t have to add anything and sound like a broken record. [I’m] extremely proud of the efforts, but going forward as a team we need to be ruthless. We’ve been competing well in these conditions and I’ve said that before when we played in Australia in similar conditions. We had the game by the scruff of the neck and even here twice, 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 innings,” said Masood as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“We can only look at ourselves. You’re going to make mistakes over several days, but you need to have a cushion. I thought when it came to a time when we could get that cushion with the bat, first and third innings, or whether that was with the ball when we had them eight down on two occasions. We didn’t have that cushion, and then you get partnerships like Bosch’s innings and Rabada and Jansen, and you don’t have enough of a cushion to retain a winning position,” Masood added.

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