PCB to seek help from BCCI in preparing sporting wickets in Pakistan?
Pakistan_India (image source : Twitter)
Australia is touring Pakistan after 24 years. The cricketing fraternity was waiting for some exciting contests between the two teams in the series. But as it turned out in the first two Tests of the series, the pitches were batting heavens and both the contests ended in draws.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has faced a lot of criticism for preparing the most docile pitches for such a historic tour. In the first Test of the series at Rawalpindi, both the teams put up huge scores and only 14 wickets fell during the five days of the match. As the action shifted to Karachi for the second Test, Australia bundled up Pakistan for 148 runs in the first innings after they put up a total of 556 runs. In the second innings, Australia declared after taking a lead of 505 runs, but the Pakistan batsmen were able to draw the match as nothing much happened off the pitch even on the last day.
While speaking about the pitches, former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed opined that the PCB should try and learn from their neighbours how to prepare rank turners. He said that India has been preparing pitches where their spinners have dominated the visitors and it is something that PCB should take a tip from.
“Why go anywhere else? I would say find out from the curators in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, etc how they prepare the turners on which Indian spinners dominate. I am surprised until now Pakistan has not been able to produce pure turning tracks, which will help our spinners,” to quote Javed from his interview on a YouTube channel. According to Javed, Pakistan can only beat Australia through spin as the visitors have a better pace attack than the hosts.
The third Test will be played at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore from March 21. To supervise the preparations of the Third Test, PCB has gone forward to seek help from the former ICC Academy head curator Toby Lumsden. Lumsden has been the curator at MCG. He is now trying to make sure that the pitch at Gaddafi stadium produces a result.
According to a source from the PCB, Ramiz Raja, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board is focusing a lot on improving the pitches in Pakistan.
“He wants to also change and improve the process of preparing pitches and Lumsden might also be given a longer assignment to help train the local curators,”- the PCB official said.
