Sometimes you WIN, sometimes you LOSE and sometimes you LEARN.
Pakistan cricket had entered a degenerative phase a few years back. But nothing was learnt. It has come to a pass where we do not know how to win home games, a strong point for teams around the world. The latest humiliating defeat inflicted by Bangladesh has badly exposed Pakistan cricket. Neither we knew how to prepare pitches nor we had the knowledge on how to win matches at home.
Playing in Pakistan has become an onerous task for our cricket team. This latest defeat on home ground is Pakistan’s fifth in the last nine Tests with four drawn. Pakistan’s last win at home came at this same venue of Rawalpindi against South Africa three years ago. In this period the anathema has been the 22-yard part of the ground that remains the focus before the match, during and after it.
Pakistan had imported Australian curator Tony Hemmings in bids to improve the condition of the pitches. This was done before as well when Andy Atkinson was roped in for the same goals. In fact, besides Andy some grass from England was also brought. The experiment failed as the conclusion was that local soil will best react to local grass.
Acceptedly, Hemmings’s work was hampered by wretched weather. But it was expected as the two-match series is scheduled for August which is mostly the monsoon season. A special meeting of Pakistan Cricket Board’s international department was held and attended by Test skipper Shan Masood. All the curators and chief curator Agha Zahid were of the opinion that the hot weather and humidity would hamper pitch preparation, especially a fast track.
The weather did play a part in the preparation as it rained consistently in Islamabad and Rawalpindi – the twin cities. Still, there was some grass but it was a disguise. Once the sun came out the moisture beneath dried down, rendering the pitch as flat. Bangladesh was lucky to get local information from a Pakistani, their spin coach Mushtaq Ahmed.
Bangladesh was in unison – from coaches to players – that the first Test pitch will help batting and may help spinners on the last day. Contrastingly, Pakistan’s management and captain had assumed that they would crush Bangladesh in three days with grass on the pitch. We will win the toss and win by an innings – all assumptions that were proven wrong.
Pakistan team management and captain did not read the pitch correctly. They took Bangladesh lightly. The pitch pandemonium is not new. It has been going on since 2022 when we hosted Australia. Just before the return of international cricket in Pakistan in 2020 we won both the series against Sri Lanka and South Africa plus a one-off Test against Bangladesh.
Three of those Tests were played in Rawalpindi and the wins were achieved through a combination of fast bowlers and spinners. But to neutralize a potent Australian pace attack the Pindi stadium pitch was killed. Its life was taken out on the orders of the then PCB chairman Ramiz Raja. He came out and justified the approach. Some 1187 runs for the loss of just 14 wickets was the result. The pitch was sub-standard, rightly earning a demerit point. There was no balance between bat and ball in the next Test as well, against England.
This time England piled 506-4 with four hundreds on the opening day – a new record opening day. Despite an aggregate of 1786, England won by dangling a carrot to Pakistan – a luring target of 343 in a good four-session time. Both the Tests against New Zealand were played on a similar dull pitch in Karachi, but still Pakistan had to fight it out for draws.
That is an awful summation of losing the home advantage. How to use the home advantage to the best effect should be learnt from India. With their arsenal of quality spinners, India have not lost two home Tests on the trot since 2012 against England – also their last home series defeat. They have been unbeaten in 17 home series since then, winning 40 Tests, drawing eight and losing just four.
Compared to their real home, Pakistan was better off at their adopted home, the United Arab Emirates. They were forced to play its home matches on neutral venues of the UAE from 2009 to 2020. It was the aftermath of terrorists’ attacks on the Sri Lankan team bus grounds in Pakistan were left barren, but nothing was done to improve the stadiums as well as the standard of pitches.
The Pindi Pitch and the ensuing defeat has left Pakistan cricket in shambles. The loss to Afghanistan in the ODI World Cup, to the United States in the T20 World Cup and now a Test defeat against Bangladesh has completed a set of embarrassing defeats.
There are a lot of things to fix – short-term and long term or else we continue to nosedive.
