Will There be a likely Result in Second Test? | Karachi Pitch update:
The curation of pitches in Pakistan has been on the receiving end of backlash from many since the Rawalpindi Test against Australia in March 2022 which saw both teams scoring a combined total of 1187 runs in 5 days. The criticism was triggered again, when the First Test match against England in December was played on a belter pitch at the same venue, which again helped batters thrash bowlers for plenty of runs, while bowlers kept on hoping for batters to make mistakes in order to get them.
A Test match ending in two or three days or becoming predictable in a short time after start of the match because of the way the pitch behaves, is never fancied by cricket fans, who wish to watch the players use their respective skills to win the match without getting any unfair advantage from the surface.
More recently, in the First Test match against New Zealand in Karachi, the strip again was seen assisting batters more than bowlers which saw the match ending as a draw after 5 days. Answering a question related to the standards of curation of pitches, Pakistan’s interim Chief Selector Shahid Afridi said that the management is eyeing to prepare ‘a bouncy pitch’ for the second Test match.
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“We want our cricket to move forward but the pitches we have played on won’t help us do that. Such pitches are not good for bowlers. We are trying to make a bouncy pitch for the second Test,” said Afridi on Saturday.
This statement stirred excitement amidst fans who are craving to see both batters and bowlers getting equal help from the deck. Following the statement, some renowned journalists shared pictures of the pitch of Karachi, which surprisingly, has grass on it. A few sources also claim that curator of Diamond Ground, Islamabad, Mohammad Ashraf, was called to curate Karachi’s deck. If the shared pictures and reports are to be believed, then the pacers will get bounce and swing off the surface.
Although owing to winters and nature of Karachi’s pitch, a lush green top is definitely out of the question but the presence of a decent amount of grass coverage can bring poise in the game with pacers, spinners and batters, all getting assistance.
