“There is no change in the approach,” insisted Azhar Mahmood, Pakistan’s assistant head coach, as he fielded questions on Monday about what had been a tumultuous 72 hours. Minutes after he spoke the team for the second Test dropped, and there had been a complete change in the approach.
Just seven weeks ago Pakistan fielded an all-pace attack against Bangladesh; last month their captain, Shan Masood, said they would prepare seam-friendly strips for this series because they “don’t have the quality of spinners to take 20 wickets in a match”; last week their two specialist seamers bowled 57 overs; this week there is only one left, and he’s a part-timer. Instead they have rolled the dice on spin.
