As the saying goes, drastic situations need drastic measures. Pakistan Cricket Board and the Test management took action after 11 winless Tests at home.
The results were encouraging.
Pakistan won the three-match series 2-1 against England and despite the criticism, it stood on the stance. Pakistan won the first Test against the West Indies. Still, criticism left a bad taste as the victory was put behind and the ploy was debated. Pakistan lost the second Test due to inept batting and disappointing captaincy. Criticism intensified.
The humiliating defeat at the hands of an inexperienced and not very formidable West Indies has plummeted Pakistan to ninth and last in the World Test Championship third cycle (2023-2025). This has been a gradual decline. The first cycle saw Pakistan finishing fifth and in the second seventh. That has also left Pakistan in seventh in Test rankings.
It has come six months after Pakistan came down crushing in T20Is, where they are seventh. Luckily, the ODI surge has been encouraging. With series wins in Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa, the Mohammad Rizwan-led ODI team is now as high as third. Pleasing to see this rise, considering the forthcoming Champions Trophy.
This has happened to other teams as well. If a country concentrated on one format, it is other two or at least one format goes down in terms of performances. It happened to England as well. After winning the 2019 World Cup, England won just one out of 17 Tests and lost five consecutive series.
However, when England addressed red-ball issues, they had a poor ODI World Cup , losing to Afghanistan and finishing a miserable seventh.
Pakistan Cricket Board needs to address the fall in Tests as soon as possible. With the talk of Test cricket being split in two tiers, Pakistan needs to stay in the top six to ensure they are in the top tier.
For that, special planning is needed. Every Test series should be planned six months ahead. Tours of Pakistan Shaheens should be planned to the countries where they are due to play a Test series. A number of batters and bowlers should be dedicated to Tests only and they should be paid more so that they do not divert to T20 Leagues.
The premier question remains: is preparing spin pitches, or rank turners, the way to go forward in Test matches at home?
Captain Shan Masood and head coach Aaqib Javed are adamant that the spicy pitch idea will continue. One agrees that if the ploy is successful then it must stay but Pakistan will have to look at the opponent first.
Like, in the next World Test Championship cycle Pakistan will be hosting South Africa, Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Both these teams not only have quality spinners in their outfits, but their batters play spin well.
If spin is the way to win, PCB must ensure that spin-friendly tracks are prepared in domestic matches so that our batters become adept at playing on such surfaces. What is noticed in the previous two editions of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy is that mostly fast bowlers have dominated.
The last Quaid-e-Azam trophy bowling table shows six fast bowlers are on top. Niaz Khan ((39), Musa Khan (38), Amir Khan (32), Ahmed Basheer (31), Muhammad Abbas (31), Mehran Sanwal (31) are all fast bowlers. At number seven is spinner Sajid Khan with 29 wickets. The season before also has Khurram Shahzad (36), Mir Hamza (32), Muhammad Ali (28) were all fast bowlers. On number four was spinner Kashif Bhatti.
This must change if Pakistan want to employ spin pitches in future. The next big Test tour will be to England in 2026. Pakistan must send a Shaheen team ahead of that tour so that some of the probable Test players get first-hand experience of English conditions.
Pakistan cricket is in great need of repair. If not done properly and honestly, the game will suffer like hockey and squash.
