In 1980, Australia’s pace legend Dennis Lillee referred to a Pakistani pitch as a “graveyard for bowlers,” but little has changed since then.
Lillee vented his resentment in the wake of working for 21 wicketless overs in Faisalabad in a bloated draw.
Every one of the 11 Australian players, even wicketkeeper Pole Bog, had a turn bowling in Pakistan’s second innings of 382-2 in answer to Australia’s 617 all out as the game diminished into close to joke.
England rewrote the record books last week when they scored 823-7 declared in response to Pakistan’s 556 in the first Test in Multan on a wicket that former captain Michael Vaughan referred to as “a road.”
The score was the fourth-highest for a single innings in the history of the Test.
Harry Creek pillaged 317 at very nearly a run a ball and Joe Root turned into Britain’s most elevated Trial scorer during his vocation best 262.
Their 454-run partnership for the fourth wicket was a record for England, the fourth-highest in history, and the most by any overseas pair.
After the home team fell to 220 all out in their second innings, England’s bowlers managed to win by an inning and 47 runs despite the lifeless pitch.
It gave Pakistan an undesirable record — the principal group to score at least 500 and lose a Test by an innings.
Perpetual issue
Britain batting extraordinary Kevin Pietersen said on X that the absence of help for bowlers in Multan, where the subsequent Test starts on Tuesday, was “annihilating Test cricket.”
Wasim Akram, a former captain, informed AFP that it is a “perennial problem.”
It has been the same old story for years. In the 1990s, we rarely had green and lively pitches, so we had to bowl long spells for wickets.
Rashid Latif, a former captain and wicketkeeper who has studied pitch preparation, stated that the pitches didn’t need to be curated so heavily in favor of batsmen.
Latif stated to AFP, “We can prepare good pitches, but our mindset is negative.”
“There was great grass on the Multan pitch however it was shaved off, I don’t be aware on whose desires.”
Previous spinner and ex-selector Tauseef Ahmed, an individual from the group who played in the notorious 1980 Faisalabad Test, said: ” Our hitters believe a level pitch should score runs.
“Even in domestic matches, we have such pitches so that players can score a lot and get noticed,” says the organization.
Pitches have become even more meek over the past two years. The highest cost of any wicket in the world is now 42.13 runs for a Test wicket.
Pitch preparation is a science, and experts agree that the ideal soil mix is 60% clay and less sand, like in Australia.
Over the course of five days, it produces tracks that are firm and bouncy and begin to absorb more spin, balancing the ball and bat.
According to a local groundsman, pitches were a significant issue.
The curator, who requested anonymity, stated, “There are multiple factors, from the weather to interference from the team management who want it to suit them.”
That complicates the procedure. A decent pitch needs sun to prepare it however in a few climate, we don’t get that,” he said.
“Our pitches are overused, so they become flat,” whereas a Test pitch required care for six months or a year.
‘Dull ages’
Latif said serious work was expected to lift the norm of pitches.
“There ought to be an exploration division under a decent geologist to determine how a decent pitch can be ready,” said Latif.
He likewise needed to see Australian Kookaburra balls utilized in Pakistan dumped for those with a more noticeable crease to help bowlers.
Latif stated, “For our type of clay, which is hand-stitched, we need to have Grays, Duke, or SG balls.”
In a soporific draw in Rawalpindi two years ago, Pakistan and Australia scored 1,187 runs with just 14 wickets taken.
Ramiz Raja, the former director of cricket for Pakistan, criticized the surface: We live in obscurity periods of contributes Pakistan. This is not an effective advertisement for Test cricket.
With the subsequent Test beginning in Multan on Tuesday and the third in Rawalpindi one week from now, it appears to be improbable the bowlers will get any reprieve soon.
