Naseem Shah blasts PCB for producing ‘highway-like’ pitches for home Tests

The 21-year-old Pakistan National Cricket Team right-arm quick Naseem Shah has expressed his disappointment over the pitches on offer in the home Test matches.

Pakistan Cricket Board has come under severe scrutiny for preparing poor tracks for the home Tests, which offer a little too much help to the batters. The board promised that things would be changed in the new home season with the appointment of Tony Hemming as the new head curator.

Ahead of the first Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, it was reported everywhere that a green-top pitch would be prepared that would offer plenty of pace and bounce.

Looking at this, the Pakistan team management decided to release Abrar Ahmed from the squad and fielded a 4-man pace-attack. This move by the team management has backfired heavily as the pitch hasn't provided any support to the pacers and the batters have scored runs very easily.

Naseem Shah, who is one of the fast bowlers giving it all in the match, spoke to the media after the fourth day's play. While talking about the pitch, he expressed his frustration over the batting-friendly tracks being produced in Pakistan and slammed PCB. Naseem Shah stated:

"I think we've had plenty of series now where we've had such (home) pitches. I think they tried their best to make the pitch helpful for bowlers, but maybe due to heat only with the new ball, it was helpful, and after that, conditions settled down."

We must leverage our home advantage by tailoring pitches that suit us - Naseem Shah

The young pacer also gave crucial advice to the Pakistan Cricket Board, saying that they should take the home advantage by preparing pitches that suit them. Naseem Shah mentioned that they should opt for spin-friendly pitches if the green-top tracks can't be made in Pakistan. He said:

"We must leverage our home advantage by tailoring pitches that suit us. If we can't prepare a green pitch, we can try a spin-friendly track—but we should always entertain the fans.”

Naseem Shah further revealed that they were expecting the pitch to help fast bowlers, but things have not turned out the way they anticipated. He said:

"Our mindset was that the pitch here would help fast bowlers. But the conditions weren't the way I expected. Obviously, when you go with 4 fast bowlers, your mindset is to attack with pacers."

At the end of the play on Day 4, the Pakistan National Cricket Team were at 23/1 and were trailing by 94 runs. The match is heading towards a draw until something drastic happens and the pitch starts offering help to seamers.

Notably, in the first innings Pakistan, after being down and out at 16/3, posted a humongous score of 448/6d on the board. Mohammad Rizwan and Saud Shakeel were the saviors for the Men In Green as they batted exceptionally and smashed terrific tons. Rizwan played a sensational innings of 171 runs while Shakeel smashed 141 runs.

In response, the Bangladesh team batted even better and managed to score 565 runs. The top performers for visitors were Mushfiqur Rahim (191), Shadman Islam (93), and Mehidy Hasan Miraz (77).