Pakistan suffered a humiliating 10-wicket defeat to Bangladesh in Rawalpindi after declaring in their first innings. But the move was not as ill-advised as it seems.
About two months ago, India batter Virat Kohli played a knock of 76 off 59 against South Africa in the T20 World Cup final. It was a strange innings, as he rescued his team from trouble in the first innings by playing safe to reach 50 off 48, before accelerating and eventually perishing.
Opinions were divided on Kohli's time at the crease, and cricket journalist Jarrod Kimber termed it "Schrödinger's Kohli", where one did not know until the result whether the innings would be deemed good or not. India won, and Kohli was largely praised across the board for rescuing his side. Had they lost, no doubt the criticism for his slow going earlier on would have been far louder.
In a sense, what happened in the first innings in Rawalpindi was Schrödinger's declaration.
Pakistan's declaration: The what
The entire first session of the match was lost to rain and a wet outfield, and Pakistan were 16-3 when they finally did go in to bat. They stayed at the crease until the evening of day two, when Shan Masood called his troops in with the score at 448-6. As far as declarations go, it was relatively bold.
Pakistan had a set batter in the middle, meaning they did not need to worry about tiring out their bowlers without reason. Mohammad Rizwan was batting on 171, and quite possibly could have added another 50 or 60 runs with Shaheen Shah Afridi. In addition, 448 was not a huge total, and almost cenrtainly not a 'bat-once' one on a wicket that has had more than a few high-scoring Test matches in the past.
But once Masood made the decision at this point, it was going to go one of two ways – Pakistan would win and the team management would receive plaudits for a bold, attacking, decision in the first innings to force a result. Or Pakistan would lose (or draw), and there would be more bad than good said about the declaration.
Bangladesh's historic Test win over Pakistan in Rawalpindi came despite the hosts declaring first—a rare outcome in cricket.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) August 25, 2024
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Pakistan's declaration: The why
Pakistan did lose, but here is a defence of sorts, of their declaration.
From comments made by assistant coach Azhar Mahmood and captain Shan Masood, it is clear that Pakistan expected this pitch to behave differently than it did. They expected there to be help for the seam bowlers, more so because of the rain that had fallen in the city for a week before the start of play.
Taking this underlying assumption at face value, Pakistan were faced with the following situation by the evening session on day two: Three days left in the match with a few overs at the end of day two, a four-pronged pace attack and seam-friendly conditions the next morning.
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With this in mind, declaring at 448 seems far more defensible. By no means was it an actively good decision, but it made more sense than it seems after the end of the match.
The fact that Bangladesh went on to score 565, and take a lead of over 100 runs is down to a few factors – one, Pakistan did not bowl very well; two, Bangladesh batted very well; and three, in the eyes of the Pakistan camp, most importantly, the pitch dried out quickly and did not provide the helpful seam-bowling conditions they had foreseen.
Pakistan's declaration: The where (it came from)
The pitch conditions then, significantly weaken the foundation of Pakistan's logic behind the declaration. Part of the decision to declare is predicated upon the fact that one's bowling attack is capable of taking opposition wickets at a good enough rate. It took Pakistan's bowlers nearly 160 overs to take seven, before the last three fell in a heap.
The declaration was ill-advised, but not on its own merit. Pakistan followed a line of thinking that was based on weak foundations. The fundamental issue remains this: when choosing to declare, they did any combination of the following three things – misread the conditions, overestimated their own bowlers or underestimated Bangladesh's batters.
Their comments in the press suggest that the first of these was the most dominant here, and Pakistan made other mistakes based at least partly on this, such as going in without a frontline spinner. The declaration looks foolish in the harsh light of a 10-wicket loss, but it was by no means Pakistan's fatal call.
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