Pakistan cricket team seem to have found a way to stay victorious at home – preparing spin-friendly pitches. Ever since PAK vs ENG 2nd Test in 2024, the team has relied heavily on spinners to get wickets at home. And rightfully so, Sajid Khan and Noman Ali have made most of it, bagging most wickets for Pakistan than their pacers combined over the last 3 years. But this won’t solve Pakistan’s woes when it comes to playing outside their home country.
Pakistan’s spin paradise could backfire on team in overseas tours
Noman Ali and Sajid Khan continued to impress at home, adding wickets to their tally like as though it was a child eating candies. The former went on to become the first Pakistan spinner to take a hat-trick in Tests, finishing with figures of 6/41. In the current PAK vs WI series, Sajid and Noman combined have so far taken 23 wickets. Abrar Ahmed, the other spinner in the side, has also tasted more success while the pacers are just playing as pawns in the tournament.
In 2024, Sajid picked up 22 wickets alone from just three matches. Noman, on the other hand, bagged 20 wickets from 2 matches. It is pertinent to point out that all these wickets came from matches held in Pakistan where pitches were prepared in a fashion to assist spinners only.
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Pakistan’s interim coach Aaqib Javed defended the preparation of spin-friendly pitches at home, claiming that the side would have been in contention for a spot in the WTC finals had they followed the approach from way before. While it makes sense for Pakistan to do so at home, their issue when it comes to bowling in overseas tours remains unsolved. After all, the side is not going to play all their Tests at home. In fact, Pakistan’s overseas tours to South Africa and Australia in 2024 resulted in series losses for Shan Masood and co, with the side not managing to win even a single Test. Their pacers, featuring the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah among others, have not only been inconsistent – both in performance and appearances – but have also failed to deliver on the expectations.
At this stage, Pakistan should be happy they have found a way to remain on winning ways at home. But at the same time, they still have a lot of work to do in terms of playing series outside Pakistan and fancy a chance of being in the World Test Championship (WTC) final in the next cycle.
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