KARACHI, Jan 26: After two high-scoring and laborious drawn Tests, the thought now diverts to the pitch being prepared for the series-deciding final Test between Pakistan and India at the National Stadium.

Agha Zahid, chief curator of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), and Haji Mohammad Bashir, head grounsdman at Qadhafi Stadium, Lahore, have already come under scathing criticism from all quarters for dishing out placid tracks in the Tests at Lahore and Faisalabad.

Such has been the batsmen’s dominance that average

per wicket is worth an unsurprising 77.54 after 2791 runs were amassed for the loss of just 36 wickets in the first two Tests.

But even after such depressing statistics so far in the series, one can paint a different picture emerging in the third Test if the pitch here is not tampered with over the next couple of days.

  The way it looked on Thursday evening, a result-oriented match is likely on the cards, something which was unfortunately missing in Lahore and Faisalabad.

The surface gave a green-tinge appearance and one saw at least half-an-inch live grass on it.

It will depend how it is rolled and the grass trimmed in the remaining time leading to the Sunday starting time.

Both Zahid and Bashir arrived here on Monday to supervise the pitch preparations before the former went back to Lahore on Wednesday for some official work.

It is an open secret that in normal circumstances a Test pitch needs 18 days of preparations.

But both Zahid, expected to return from Lahore on Friday, and Bashir would have been working on the match strip for only six days before Sunday.

If there is a conclusive result in the Karachi Test, the man who should be acknowledged is Ahsan Arain, the NSK head curator, for it is he who with his dedicated team has been working tirelessly on the Test pitch for the past two weeks.

And if the pitch plays true and encourages the bowlers, particularly the pacemen, and the match turns out be a decider, Arain and his team must get the credit they richly deserve.