HYDERABAD: Former national team skipper Salman Butt has said that Pakistan need to play home series on multiple surfaces to ensure adaptability in players which is badly affected due to monotonous UAE playing conditions.

He cautioned that if it was not done Pakistan players would be accustomed to one particular surface which won’t give any advantage to Pakistan cricket on foreign soil.

“We must start playing on a diverse variety of pitches now,” said Salman Butt while talking to Dawn at the Niaz Stadium where he was playing for Wapda in semi-final of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy on Sunday.

A confident Salman said that the current season remained good for him although, he felt, it still could have been a better one. “I hit two centuries in four innings against strong teams which gave me more confidence,” maintained Salman.

He said 80 per cent of Pakistan’s international cricket was being played in Dubai since 2010 on slow turning pitches, which, he added, was not beneficial for cricket in the country. “Reason for drastic downfall in our performance on foreign soil is the fact that we play on very slow surfaces. And when we are exposed to green pitches we seriously lack the kind of practice that is required for batting on fast tracks,” said the opener.

No doubt, he said, boys were having wonderful statistics and Pakistan is winning. “But Pakistan definitely lack the essential credentials required for performing well on fast pitches in Australia, South Africa and England where Pakistan have hardly been able to defeat these teams on their soil,” remarked Salman.

Also, he pointed out that out of 33 Tests he played 26 on foreign soils. “Actually, it is the foreign soil where your techniques are tested and when you get used to playing on easy tracks you find it hard to play on a little bouncy surface,” he commented.

Expressing satisfaction with his performance, Salman said he played seven matches during the last National Oneday Cup in which, he added, he remained unbeaten on three occasions while scoring 550 runs with the average of 107– the highest one.

Salman also succeeded in scoring runs with the average of more than 70 in the National T20 Cup. “And then I played T20 where I ended up as second highest run-getter only 10-run behind Umar Akmal.”

“People might have thought my reflexes got slow but I played full season which was only possible due to high level of my fitness,” maintained the former captain, adding that he was enjoying batting during the current match but he lost his wicket on a poor delivery.

Answering a question about his selection in the national team, he stated that a player was supposed to score runs and perform well, adding when selectors would feel that the team needed his services he would be inducted into the national side.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2016