Rawalpindi, 20 Aug: Pakistan captain Shan Masood on Tuesday underlined the importance of maintaining dressing room environment saying it can shape on-field performances, ahead of their opening Test against Bangladesh.
\nPakistan take on Bangladesh in the first of the two Tests starting here on Wednesday in what will be a busy season comprising an overall nine Tests, which also gives them an opportunity to put behind a disappointing period both on and off the field.
\nSince the Asia Cup last year, Pakistan have been on a downward spiral with recent reports of dressing room differences between players doing rounds in the media, PCB\u2019s leadership choices and its way of governance adding more to the fans\u2019 disappointment along with their ordinary on-field results.
\n\u201cI think it is a good opportunity for us to do well at home and the dressing room environment plays a pivotal role in shaping on-field performances,\u201d Masood told the media during his pre-match press conference.
\n“Our main focus and what I personally believe in as a leadership philosophy \u2014 which Jason also believes in along with all the other players \u2014 is that everything starts from the dressing room,\u201d he said.
\nHaving fared poorly in both Asia Cup and 50-overs World Cup, Pakistan were whitewashed in Australia and New Zealand, struggled in a T20I series at home against a depleted Kiwis side and also made a first-round exit from the T20 World Cup.
\nMasood said he and Gillespie are trying to create an inclusive environment while looking to provide continuity to the players and give them an atmosphere to enjoy their cricket.
\nBangladesh would enter the Test with a sigh of relief, to be able to focus on cricket and not on the unrest in their country.
\nThe visiting side includes some seasoned campaigners including former captains Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mominul Haque who will play under the leadership of Najmul Hossain Shanto.
\nBangladesh also boasts of Litton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, a top spinner in Taijul Islam along with a few seamers.
\nThe visitors will, however, be without Taskin Ahmed who has not played a Test since June 2023 and the team management was not willing to put him straight into red-ball cricket grind after his recovery from an injury.
\nInstead, Taskin has been sent to play the second four-day match against Pakistan Shaheens in Islamabad. The first day\u2019s play did not see any action on Tuesday owing to rains and wet outfield.
\nThe weather is also expected to play a big role in the Test since there is rain forecast on all five days. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rawalpindi, 20 Aug: Pakistan captain Shan Masood on Tuesday underlined the importance of maintaining dressing room environment saying it can shape on-field performances, ahead of their opening Test against Bangladesh. Pakistan take on Bangladesh in the first of the two Tests starting here on Wednesday in what will be a busy season comprising an overall […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-246789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}