ISLAMABAD: Batsmen are bound to struggle as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) think-tank has decided to prepare result-oriented pitches tilted towards the spinners to get the best use of home conditions, said Mohammad Rizwan Friday following an action-packed opening day of the first Test against West Indies at the Multan Stadium.
Together with Saud Shakil, Rizwan so far has put on 97 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket to take Pakistan out of the woods. In a post day media talk, Rizwan said that pitches specially prepared for Test cricket were meant to produce results.
“You cannot now expect big innings or heavy averages from the batsmen as we have decided to go for results on home soil. In that scenario, you tend to get pitches where the ball gets low and sometimes gets up awkwardly so scoring runs and getting big innings is difficult. You can get out any time on the pitches where there is heavy turn and awkward bounce.”
The wicket-keeper batsman said every country tries to prepare pitches of their likings. “It is nothing new. Anywhere in the world, the host nation puts us on the tracks that suit them the most. We have toured Australia and South Africa just recently and found pitches suited to home bowlers. You will get fast bouncy tracks in Australia and when it comes to South Africa, they prepare seam friendly pitches, hence fully utilizing their conditions. So we must look to our strengths when playing Test series at home, meaning we obviously like to play on a turner as we have quality spinners at our disposal.” Coming back to the opening day, Rizwan said that the Test could be over in three days.
“I know well this Test cannot last more than three full days. If we play 90 overs on each day, this Test cannot go to the fourth day. The pitch is too difficult to bat on. Every team and every batsman can get out anytime,” he added.
Rizwan said together with Saud, they planned to wrest the initiative back from the West Indies. “We succeeded in our plan and got some crucial runs for the team.” To a question on Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah sitting out of the Test series, Rizwan said that they were not needed for such pitches.
“We have played three spinners here according to the demand of the conditions. I don’t think here we need Shaheen or Naseem as these pitches are suited to the spinners and that is why we have inducted three specialist spinners in the team.”
Rizwan refused to set a target for the West Indies team. “It is not easy to follow a set target for the opponents on such a surface. You cannot chase 50 runs.” On the second day (Saturday), Rizwan said they would try their best to carry on from where they left on Friday. “Our effort would be to stretch our stand further to put pressure on the opponents. We would try to get maximum runs but you never know on such pitches as to what comes next.”