Former England skipper Nasser Hussain has criticised Pakistan Cricket for using used pitches and asked to reconsider their approach on pitch preparation following Pakistan’s 152-run win over England in sencond test in Multan. Paksitan’s win came on a turning track that favoured their spinners.
England was forced to play on the same venue and same pitch, which was used for the first test of the series, due to some unavoidable circumstances. However, they won the match and ended their losing streak to level the series against England.
This cannot be the template for future cricket in Pakistan : Nasser Hussain
In the interaction with Sky Sports after the match, Nasser remarked that Pakistan cannot rely on the formula of using used pitches. The result of the second test was totally opposite what we saw in the first where over 1500 runs were scored by both teams combined.
“You cannot tell me that last week was better viewing than this week, you cannot tell me if you are a local in this part of the world that you are going to come in during 40 degree heat and watch 560 play 800. You are going to come in and watch your side play and win on a pitch that offers something,” Hussain told Sky Sports at the end of the match.
“This cannot be the template for future cricket in Pakistan, keep playing on the same surface. But they do need to take a look at their surfaces, and if they find a winning formula – stick with it. Stick with this squad, stick with these two spinners, stick with the batting line up, stick with the selectors and the captain. Have some kind of consistency. Pakistan Test match cricket needed this week,” Hussain added.
The pitch favoured spinners as the match progressed
After winning the toss, Pakistan decided to bat first in the second test. They were without their former skipper Babar Azam, Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi. Eventually, Pakistan won the match and this marked Shan Masood’s win in the format after taking over as Test captain from Babar Azam last year. Pakistan got whitewashed by Bangladesh before the start of the high voltage England series and they were under tremendous pressure.
Nasser explained about the change in behaviour of the pitch in the second test in Multan.
“The pitch changed around about Day 2 of this match. Even when Duckett was going through that fabulous hundred, there were deliveries that he played that were bouncing up and hitting him on the shoulder. Since then, spin has absolutely dominated,” Hussain said in the same interaction.
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