THE Pakistan team has lost about 80pc of international matches at out-of-country fast pitches such as in Australia, England and New Zealand. In 2017, New Zealand beat Pakistan in the cricket series by 5-0. In 2016, Australia beat Pakistan by 4-0. In 2016, also, England beat Pakistan by 4-0. Our cricket players are not good enough to play at fast pitches anywhere, though they play very well at slow pitches.

I congratulate the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and our security institutions for successfully holding three PSL tournaments, specially the semi-finals at Lahore and the final at Karachi. The PCB has earned about Rs1,000 million. The message has gone out to the world that Pakistan is a peaceful country, with new cricketing talent like Shadab Khan, Amad Waseem, Shaheen Afridi and Hussain Talat.

The chairman of the PCB should organise the next PSL in the country with a special provision for pitches for fast bowling at all PSL matches, as the next World Cup will be scheduled in 2019. England will host the tournament and they will only provide pitches for fast bowling. Our players will be required to play an excellent game to win the match.

Adil Awan

Karachi

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2018