Pakistan’s luck continues to turn for the worse in the World Test Championship. After a loss to Bangladesh in the opening match of their series in Dhaka, where they lost by 104 runs, Pakistan have faced a further bruising as they dropped eight WTC points and faced further punishment for upholding a slow over-rate.
The Test match went down to a well-fought final day with all three results a possibility, but it was Bangaldesh’s bowling led by Nahid Rana that sparked an almight Pakistan collapse either side of tea to grab the win for the Tigers. It was a loss which already spelled trouble for Pakistan, but there are set to be even worse consequences as Pakistan’s players were fined 40% of their match fee.
An ICC statement confirmed that match referee Jeff Crowe adjudged the Pakistan team to be a whopping 8 overs short in their quotas across the spread of the match; Pakistan captain Shan Masood proceeded to plead guilty against the charges, removing the necessity for any sort of hearing.
The 40% and eight-point deduction follows stipulations provided in the ICC and WTC playing conditions that state teams will lose 5% of their match fee plus one point in the WTC points table for every over of delay. This is only the second deduction in this cycle of the WTC, but four times as heavy as England’s two-point deduction suffered during the Lord’s Test vs India last summer.
Pakistan down one spot to ninth place
The match in Dhaka itself was a bitter disappointment as Pakistna collapsed from 119/3 to 168 all-out in the final innings, not able to hold on for a draw against a Bangladesh team making perfect use of a tired fifth day pitch in Mirpur.
The deduction cuts the points total for an already struggling Pakistan in third – they had only 12 points on the board after one win and two losses in this WTC cycle thus far. The eight point deduction moves them to four points, level with last-placed West Indies, and languishing in ninth in the table with a point percentage of 11.11%.
This leaves them well short of the current WTC leaders Australia, coasting on 87.5% after a crushing Ashes victory, and New Zealand on 77.8% in second place. South Africa’s upset of India has them right outside on 75%, while the Indians themselves are playing catch-up with a disappointing 48.5% winning percentage thus far.