Pindi Test: Pakistan keep themselves in ‘dark ages’, brave England light years ahead

Published December 6, 2022
Azhar Ali (bottom) dives to save his wicket during the fifth and final day of the first cricket Test match between Pakistan and England at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, in Rawalpindi on Monday. — AFP
Azhar Ali (bottom) dives to save his wicket during the fifth and final day of the first cricket Test match between Pakistan and England at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, in Rawalpindi on Monday. — AFP

HATS off to England, the brave England, for reviving five-day cricket. Test cricket was dead — or perhaps was meant to shield home batters — and almost buried on the first four days at the Pindi Cricket Stadium. But eventually the courage and the belief innovatively inculcated into this Ben Stokes-led brigade by Brendon McCullum did wonders for them in dimming light.

England maintaining an unprecedented run-rate of 6.5 for more than 100 overs and following it up with 7.3 in the second innings was indeed supremely phenomenal.

To defy and overcome this novel ‘Bazball’ storm required an extraordinary plan which Pakistan drastically lacked.

According to a former Pakistan cricketer who was part of the national squad on the 1987 trip to India, when a reporter asked Imran Khan something about the playing conditions on the tour and how it could impact the tourists’ plan, the skipper in his usually self-assured tone responded, “What pitch? We are here to win”.

The whole world witnessed how Pakistan outsmarted India on a square turner in the final Test at Bangalore.

Ramiz Raja, the incumbent PCB chairman, was a member of the squad on that landmark tour and can surely reflect on the approach Pakistan had kept under intense pressure during the series on Indian soil.

While Ramiz’s ‘dark ages’ remark on pitches in Pakistan is very much spot-on, the question is: how long will it take for the PCB to overhaul the country’s cricketing system, including pitches’ preparation? Was Rawal­pindi the first pitch-related flop for the hosts?

One can easily recall that Pakistan’s series opener on another a featherbed at this very ground in Rawalpindi against Australia — just nine months ago — ended as a boring draw.

After playing a catch-up game in the second Test drawn at Karachi, the hosts finally fell in the third Test at Lahore and ultimately lost the series. It was proved then that the recipe of making flat pitches to evade defeat was not going to work for Pakistan. But it seems no lessons were learned.

Is drop-in pitches, as Ramiz has poin­ted out, the only solution? Perhaps not.

Back in 1998, Zimbabwe stunned a star-studded Pakistan side 1-0 in a three-Test rubber at their backyard as the tourists clinched the opening Test on a helpful pitch in Peshawar. It clearly goes on to show that sporting pitches in Pakistan can be prepared.

Perhaps, losing a home Test series against Zimbabwe made the administrators at that time concerned more about losing rather than developing a long-term plan for Pakistan’s Test cricket to grow on solid footing.

The results of that age-old safety-first approach are showing, even in 2022. Pakistan at home may prevent teams like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and West Indies from winning cut-throat five-day games by making docile pitches but not the current England — a well-oiled, buoyant and inventive outfit.

Stokes after winning in Rawalpindi said. “I have got no interest in playing for draws.. we always try to look at the positive option.” This explicitly shows England will seek to remain equally ruthless in Multan and Karachi too.

PCB administrators badly need to revisit their pitch-making strategy or else our cricket will continue to suffer particularly in top-level games.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2022

Opinion

Editorial

Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...
Provincial share
Updated 17 Mar, 2024

Provincial share

PPP has aptly advised Centre to worry about improving its tax collection rather than eying provinces’ share of tax revenues.
X-communication
17 Mar, 2024

X-communication

IT has now been a month since Pakistani authorities decided that the country must be cut off from one of the...
Stateless humanity
17 Mar, 2024

Stateless humanity

THE endless hostility between India and Pakistan has reduced prisoners to mere statistics. Although the two ...