Khurram Shahzad expressed his view that Litton Das had a stroke of luck during his resilient performance on the first day of the second Test match. He highlighted missed opportunities that, in his opinion, could have led to Bangladesh being dismissed for a much lower score at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.
Making a comeback in place of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Khurram showcased an impressive performance by taking four wickets as Bangladesh were bundled out for 278.
Initially, Pakistan had Bangladesh struggling at 116 for six until Litton launched a counterattack, steering Bangladesh to a more respectable total. Despite Litton’s efforts, Khurram believed that the wicketkeeper-batsman was fortunate to have escaped dismissal on a couple of occasions.
Khurram mentioned that key fielding lapses and missed review opportunities hindered Pakistan from tightening their grip on the game even further. He noted that if those critical chances had been capitalized on, the outcome might have been vastly different, possibly restricting Bangladesh to under 200 runs.
Despite the missed opportunities, Khurram commended his team for limiting Bangladesh to a sub-300 total on a pitch that he described as more favorable for batting compared to the previous Test in Dhaka.
Highlighting the differences in pitch conditions, Khurram explained that the Sylhet pitch offered better batting conditions with even bounce compared to the challenging conditions in Dhaka.
Looking forward to Pakistan’s batting innings, Khurram emphasized the importance of capitalizing on the favorable conditions to establish a substantial lead. He expressed the team’s aim to build a strong partnership and target a score of 400 to 450 to assert dominance in the match.