Pakistan won their third consecutive Test at home. As long as his team was on the right side of the result, Pakistan skipper Shan Masood wouldn't be bothered by the optics or how his side is getting the win. With all 60 wickets going to the spinners in the last three Tests - two against England and the first of the two against the West Indies in Multan - the criticism has been raised on the pace department and their ability to bowl on such dry wickets and Masood defended them and also the batters saying that 'team winning is the priority.'
"If someone has to sacrifice there, like fast bowlers or batters, then so be it. There will be oppositions where we feel we can prepare seam-friendly pitches. Then fast bowlers will get the opportunity to get wickets like the spinners got here," Masood said as Pakistan seemed to have finally found a method to win Test matches at home, something they learned the hard way after losing to Bangladesh and the first of the three Tests against England.
"We need to work on how we can progress as a team. A WTC is a two-year cycle, so fast bowlers will come into it. We have away series in England and the West Indies with the Dukes ball. When a subcontinent team comes here, we may prepare seam-friendly wickets. Over the bigger picture, no one's role is being diminished," Masood added.
Apart from the 141-run stand between Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan in the first innings, there were no big partnerships in the whole game that ended inside three days, after just a little over 40 overs were possible on the opening day due to intense fog. Masood went on to give India's example as to how taking 20 wickets is important, however they come.
"If you're looking individually at the batters, it doesn't make for good reading. But our batters batted better than West Indies, and better than England's batters in October. If you just look at hundreds and fifties and judge them by raw numbers, then it'll be misleading. Just like we'll have to be flexible with our playing style, viewers will also need to be flexible in their thinking. Look at India's blueprint and their averages at home and you'll get the point. If conditions are flat, getting 20 wickets is hard. We've sacrificed individual milestones for team results," Masood added.
Pakistan took a 1-0 lead in the two-match series after the trio of Sajid Khan (nine), Noman Ali (six) and Abrar Ahmed (five) distributed the share of wickets among themselves as West Indies could muster 137 and 123 in the two innings.