Pakistan won’t play day-night Tests in UAE this year

PCB decides against playing under lights after reservations from the team management

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board has decided against holding day-night Test matches during its home series in United Arab Emirates (UAE) against Australia and New Zealand.

In October 2012, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had granted permission to the member countries to organise day-night Test matches. The first ever day-night Test match was played between Australia and New Zealand at Adelaide Oval in November 2015.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also showed keen interest in holding day-night Test matches and in October 2016, Pakistan played their first Test under lights against West Indies in Dubai — a match which the Pakistan won by 56 runs. Azhar Ali scored a triple century to make it a memorable match while the West Indies spinner Devendra Bishoo took eight wickets in the second innings.

The authorities believed that the delayed start of the match in the summer season of Dubai would help ease the problems of the players and would also attract the cricket fans towards it as they can attend the match after work. However, this never materialized.

Despite the response received in the first match, Pakistan played its second day-night Test against Sri Lanka in October. The match was once again held in Dubai but the host team lost by 68 runs.

According to sources, this year the day-night test experience for the home series won’t be repeated. The reservations shown by the Pakistan Team Management was the main reason behind the decision — who believed that dew affects the spinners.

Off-spinner Yasir Shah had taken 5 wickets for 121 runs in first innings of the day-night test against West Indies, while in the second innings he managed to take only two wickets while conceding 113 runs. Last year, he had taken 6 wickets despite a hammering of 184 runs in the first innings against Sri Lanka while in the second innings he only managed to pick up two wickets for 47 runs.

The authorities accepted the reason which means that both the matches with the Aussies and three test matches with New Zealand will be played in broad daylight.

Since 2015 ten day-night Test matches have been held across the globe. The Pakistani team has been part of three matches out of those matches. The Brisbane test was played under lights against Australia in December 2016.

Meanwhile, the schedule for matches between Australia and New Zealand has also been finalised. Soon the PCB will announce the dates of the matches to be held in September and October.

The Kangaroos will play two Tests and three T20I while Kiwis will play three Tests, three ODIs and three T20I matches. After the series, the South Africa will take on Pakistan team in three Test matches, three T20I matches and five ODIs from December 2018 till February 2018. The Pakistani team will also play five-match ODI series against Australia, after the next edition of Pakistan Super League.