The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decided to give a break to their former captain of the longest format, Babar Azam, for the second of the three-match Test series against England at the Multan Cricket Stadium. This also drove them to create a dry and reused surface for the game, which ended their 11-match losing streak.
But, the current Pakistan red-ball captain Shan Masood questioned why they never get such tracks at home, as he namedropped Melbourne in Australia, which is renowned to be the best batting track, while in Sydney, the ball tends to spin a bit. These are natural but known conditions.
But when they faced the same Ben Stokes-led side during their last series at home, the track was flat and placid, making wicket-taking the most hardest job. Even during the first game of the series, when the home side made over 550 runs in the first innings, they were thumped for more than 800 runs in their bowling.
Ramiz Raja accuses Babar Azam for making lifeless surfaces
But whose call was it to make such tracks? The former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, Ramiz Raja, has allegedly admitted that Babar Azam, the then leader of the side, requested him to make flat surfaces for their three-match historic home series against Australia.
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The opening game of the series was played in Rawalpindi, where the home side put on over 450 runs for the loss of only four wickets in the first innings. In reply, the Pat Cummins-led side clubbed 459 before the two home openers put on an unbeaten stand of 252 runs for the opening wicket to end the game on a boring draw.
In Karachi, the same conditions were offered. But some great tactical bowling from the Kangaroos bundled out Pakistan for just 148 runs in the first innings before they claimed a lead of over 400 runs. The need of the hour was for someone to put up a huge score.
Babar Azam did the job and smashed 196 runs in 425 balls, with the help of 21 boundaries and one six at a strike rate of below 50, which in the end saved the game for the side.
Ramiz Raja, in a conversation with BBC, claimed that he asked Babar Azam on what sort of track he would love to ace the Australia side, to which the veteran desired those roads.
“I wasn’t bossing the pitch preparation. I was just listening to Babar Azam. When he walked into my room, I asked him a simple question, what are your plans, how to beat Australia? Who are the people that will help you do it? Even if I queried his strategy, I allowed him the players and strategies at least for the first Test against Australia.” Raja claimed in a statement on BBC.
In the third Test at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan conceded a lead of over 100 runs in the first innings and ended up accepting a defeat by 115 runs in the contest to lose the series with a 1-0 margin. Babar Azam, however, celebrated half-centuries in both of the games.
The approach backfired, and the games were criticized for losing excitement. They will hope to win the final game of the three-match Test series against England to win the series in the five-day format after more than a year. They will make a trip to South Africa at the end of the year before hosting West Indies towards the start of 2025.