Pitching in: The criticisms are being shouted at the wrong pitch

The stats prove that Pakistan’s domination is down to the players, not the playing conditions

KARACHI: 'It’s too slow’, they shouted.

‘It’s too dead’, came the protests.

‘It’s too unresponsive’, were the complaints.

The pitches of the UAE have been criticised with every run off a Pakistan bat. First against Australia, now against New Zealand. Runs continue to be made, records continue to be broken, and the criticisms continue to flow.

Few can blame the naysayers though, after all Pakistan have no right to be doing what they have been doing. Slow Misbahul Haq made the joint fastest Test century ever, ODI reject Younus Khan made a mockery out of Australia, ‘poor batsman’ Sarfraz Ahmed scored the fourth-fastest century, and so on and so forth; everyone knows the rest.

Scrambling to make sense of it all, the critics turned to the pitch with torches and pitchforks and sat back with a satisfied smile, content at having unravelled the mystery that is the Pakistan side.

The bowling, however, proves them wrong. The Pakistani batsmen have had all the time in the world to play the ball, but the same Kookaburra has moved at a quicker pace when in the hands of the hosts. Zulfiqar Babar’s sliders have hurried the batsmen more than Mitchell Johnson, Trent Boult and Tim Southee combined.

So maybe the problem lies not in the slowness of the pitch but in the position of the batsmen and their reading of the ball; maybe then it is not the pitch that is too slow but the batsmen on it.

The numbers, as they often do, speak volumes. Australia’s 303 in the first innings of the first Test was the only time in these five innings that Australia or New Zealand have crossed 300. Pakistan, on the other hand, have done so thrice, declaring on 286-2 and 293-3 in the two occasions that they have not.

The hosts’ aggregate score of 2169-24 at an average of more than 90 runs per wicket since the start of the Australia series does point to an easy batting wicket. But their opponents’ combined 1288-50 at an average of just 25.75 per wicket does not.

Pakistan batsmen have played an average of 154.6 balls in between each dismissal, but the bowlers have picked up wickets every 52.5 balls, and that 303-run Australia innings was the only time that either of the visitors played more than 100 overs in an innings.

The numbers don’t lie; these pitches are surely not as batsmen-friendly as they have been made out to be.

Too spin-friendly, shouts one of the many critical voices in retort. But then again, isn’t that the case of all Asian wickets? The home side has every right to play to its advantage when preparing the pitches and with bowlers like Anil Kumble, Saeed Ajmal, Saqlain Mushtaq and Muttiah Muralitharan – to name a recent few of the greats produced in the region – why should they not prepare spinning tracks? After all, the likes of Dale Steyn, Mitchell Johnson, James Anderson, Glenn McGrath, Shaun Pollock get a lot of joy out of their home pitches.

But have the pitches really been that good to the spinners and that poor for the faster bowlers? The numbers once again do not agree. In the Australian series, Pakistan’s spinners had combined figures of 710-30. Their Australian counterparts, however, took only a third of the wickets and gave away more runs, ending with figures of 888-10 in what are supposed to be overly spin-friendly conditions. In fact, Australia’s frontline pacers actually did better than the spinners, claiming overall series figures of 536-10, with Johnson’s 177-6 particularly impressive.

New Zealand’s spinners have fared no better, with their two frontline spinners going for 288-1, while Pakistan’s had figures of 204-5. Boult and Southee claimed no wicket in the first innings but there were early signs of movement on day one and all-rounder Corey Anderson took two out of the three wickets to fall with his medium-pacers. Then again, Rahat Ali’s 22-4 also made a mockery of the overly spin-friendly criticisms, and Imran Khan and Rahat have decent combined figures of 338-13 in the five matches.

So unless Pakistan have managed to somehow sneak in a different pitch at the end of every innings, perhaps it is time to stop criticising the pitch and rather praise those playing on it. Pakistan, simply put, have just been better than their opponents.

 

 

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.