PAKISTAN seemed to have found the blueprint for Test success at home: raging turners that had brought three wins in a row. After winning the opening game against the West Indies in their last series of the World Test Championship, they seemed headed towards ending a disappointing campaign on a high note. The West Indies, though, ended the two-match series on level terms, beating Pakistan in the final Test in Multan. The loss ensured the hosts finished at the bottom of the WTC table. It is a position they had not foreseen before the start of what was billed as a bumper home season, with skipper Shan Masood setting his sights on making the WTC final. Following a whitewash at the hands of Bangladesh, Pakistan turned to spin after losing to England in the opening Test of their three-match series. They fought back to win that series and were on top after the opening session of the second Test against the West Indies, only for the tourists to fight back and win their first Test on Pakistani soil since 1990.

Pakistan’s batting crumbled in the face of West Indies’ spin firepower while chasing 253. They fell 120 runs short. Later, Shan indicated that similar turning pitches — instead of flat tracks — were likely in the upcoming domestic season to give batters the practice to thrive in such spinning conditions. Perhaps if Pakistan had picked the best batters against spin, the outcome might have been different, but as the old adage goes, practice makes perfect. Amid murmurs of a two-tier Test system, Pakistan are looking to spin as the way to win at home. Shan already backs the system. Which tier Pakistan end up in could well be decided at the end of the next WTC cycle with their first Test series coming in nine months’ time, giving Shan and his fellow batters time to improve their prowess against spin.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2025