‘Illiterates in cricket’: Former Pakistan captain criticises strike rate experts after loss to Bangladesh

Pakistan suffered an embarrassing 2-0 Test series defeat to Bangladesh on Tuesday. It was the team’s first ever series defeat in this format against the Bangla Tigers. The Shan Masood-led team had been under harsh criticism since losing the first Test and a series of whitewashes only compounded their woes. Many pundits, including former batter Salman Butt, lashed out at the team’s performance. Butt, however, criticized those pundits who asked Pakistani batters to improve their strike rate in Test cricket.

“The strike rate mafia and intent mafia are basically cricket illiterates. They have no idea about the format they are talking about,” Butt said in a video on his YouTube channel.

“You lose in four days and come back, what are you going to do by playing fast? You’ve only played 46 overs. What a hurry you’re in? Why don’t you understand that your job is to bat long?”

“Do the greats of the game play like highlights? Do the likes of Joe Root, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma score runs like this?” he wondered.

Pakistan hit rock bottom after slipping to eighth position in the latest ICC Test rankings, their lowest since 1965.

Pakistan suffered a series of setbacks after their historic defeat to Bangladesh in their two-match home Test series.

It was the first time that Pakistan tasted the sour taste of defeat against Bangladesh in red-ball cricket.

Their latest slump marked their lowest ranking in the Test format, with the exception of the period when they were not ranked due to an insufficient number of matches.

In the opening Test match of the series, Pakistan had their backs to the wall as Bangladesh played a much more aggressive brand of cricket.

Pakistan struggled to understand the nature of the surface on offer and succumbed to a 10-wicket defeat. They suffered a six-wicket loss in the second match, scripting a historic whitewash for Bangladesh.

The impact of the result changed the entire picture of the ICC World Test Championship standings.

The 2-0 series win saw Bangladesh overtake England to move into fourth place with a points percentage of 45.83.

Meanwhile, Pakistan have slipped to eighth position with a points percentage of 19.05 with two wins in seven matches.

(With PTI inputs)