'Why go anywhere else?': Ex-Pak pacer wants Pakistan to learn from India's cricket acumen

The second Test match between Pakistan and Australia at the National Stadium in Karachi ended with a draw on Wednesday, which was the second straight drawn match of the three-match series. Australia’s ongoing tour of Pakistan is a historic assignment, as the Aussies are touring the country after 24 years, however, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has faced heavy criticism from the cricket community for preparing below-average pitches. While many former Pakistani cricketers have voiced their opinion on the same by criticizing the PCB chief Ramiz Raja, former pacer Aaqib Javed also spoke about it and said that Pakistan should learn from India about preparing pitches. 

Speaking on a YouTube video, the former Pakistani pacer said, “Why go anywhere else? I would say find out from the curators in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, etc how they prepare the turners on which Indian spinners dominate. I am surprised until now Pakistan has not been able to produce pure turning tracks, which will help our spinners”.

Difference between the matches held in pitches of India and Pakistan

Aaqib’s comments come days after Sri Lanka’s tour of India completed with results in both matches, where both batters and bowlers received made the most out of the pitches. India won the first Test at Mohali by an innings and 22 runs after scoring 574 runs in the first innings and restricting Sri Lanka for 174 runs and 178 runs respectively in both their batting innings. In the second Test at Bangalore, India scored 252 runs in the first innings, before bowling out the visitors on 109 runs.

India added 303 runs in their second batting innings and went on to win the match by 238 runs after bowling out Sri Lanka on 208. Contrasting to India, the first Test match between Pakistan and Australia at Rawalpindi saw over 1100 runs being scored in five days with only 14 wickets falling in four innings. The second Test also turned out to be a high-scoring match, with another draw as the outcome of the match.

Australia scored 556 runs at the loss of nine wickets in the first innings of the second Test at Karachi and declared their innings. Pakistan replied with a first innings score of 148 runs, while Australia added 97 runs to their lead and set a mammoth target of 506 runs for the hosts. The match ended with Pakistan scoring 443 runs at the loss of seven wickets after Mohammed Rizwan played an unbeaten knock of 104 runs off 117 balls, following a knock of 196 runs off 425 balls by skipper Babar Azam.

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