“If you look at the difference between Multan and Pindi, there is a difference in climate,” Shakeel mentioned. “Multan is warmer than Pindi, Multan is hotter and more humid compared to Pindi. Pindi slightly prefers fast bowlers and has more bounce, compared to Multan. The fielder prepares accordingly, and I think that is what causes the changes in the field.
“Regardless of what the sound looks like and how lucky we were in the second test, we will strive for an approximate indistinguishable sound that favors us and helps us win this sport.”
Since returning from the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan has been agonizing over how best to take advantage of home field. In the early years, the sensible thing to do was to drastically change their tactics in the UAE and revert to friendly launches that they believed would be easier to prepare for. It coincided with the emergence of a young generation of fast bowlers, notably Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah. The initial boost, such as a five for Naseem against Sri Lanka and a hat-trick against Bangladesh, followed by a two-Test series victory over South Africa, where Afridi took five wickets in a decisive final day in Pindi, seemed to vindicate What a tactic.
For now, it seems to have caused a sharp change of course in the PCB’s thinking. “We’ll have to look at collection-to-collection and contest releases to verify. And we’ve come to understand that this is a bit overdue,” Shakeel said. “If you want to prepare for the SENA [series in South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia]you will be able to do it all over the world and in first-class cricket. If there is first-class cricket before South Africa, will we prepare those kind of pitches there? But we will have to prepare the shots and the situations series by series and in line with the rival.
“Our comeback in the second game gave us a very good morale boost. A win is always very helpful in creating a positive atmosphere. We will try to give the spinners an advantage once again, because they struggled with that in the second Test.”
Pakistan opted not to reveal their XI on Tuesday, as did England, who prefer a more detailed look. Legspinner Zahid Mahmood was dead despite useful situations in Multan, bowling just six overs in the entire competition, which probably greatly increased the chances of playing with a consultant seamer.
In the end, with England naming 3 spinners, it looks like that’s not going to work. “I can’t say right now because we haven’t discussed this,” Shakeel mentioned. “If there is a spin pitch, we can go back to using three spinners.”
