10/10 for the Karachi curator - the perfect Test match pitch

[omairsiddiqui]

It was the perfect Test pitch. The seamers enjoyed it on Day 1 and 2. The spinners found some turn, There was bounce as well.

Day 3 should generally be the best day for batting in a Test match and it was. On Day 4, we started seeing signs of the pitch crumbling and wearing just a little bit. On Day 5, Yasir bowled one over but he was getting a significant amount of turn.

A fantastic Test wicket for all kinds of bowlers and batsmen. Well done to the Karachi groundsman. Couldn't have been easy to prepare this pitch having not had Test cricket for 10 years.

 

[ChTab]

It was the perfect Test pitch. The seamers enjoyed it on Day 1 and 2. The spinners found some turn, There was bounce as well.

Day 3 should generally be the best day for batting in a Test match and it was. On Day 4, we started seeing signs of the pitch crumbling and wearing just a little bit. On Day 5, Yasir bowled one over but he was getting a significant amount of turn.

A fantastic Test wicket for all kinds of bowlers and batsmen. Well done to the Karachi groundsman. Couldn't have been easy to prepare this pitch having not had Test cricket for 10 years.

Indeed that was an amazing wicket. Now need to prepare these sort of wickets for QEA TROPHY.

 

[Boi]

Really was a great pitch. Interesting to see how the ICC rates it.

 

[IAJ]

This whole match reminded me so much of that famous Pak-India match. I said that in the match thread and hoped for Naseem Shah to produce something like Asif, and what performance by the youngster beauty.

 

[Bewal Express]

One of the best wickets ever produced in PK. The last one this good was against the South Africans in Lahore in 2004.

 

[Slim]

Australia please take notes. Terrible pitches in Australia for test cricket.

 

[MenInG]

It was the perfect Test pitch. The seamers enjoyed it on Day 1 and 2. The spinners found some turn, There was bounce as well.

Day 3 should generally be the best day for batting in a Test match and it was. On Day 4, we started seeing signs of the pitch crumbling and wearing just a little bit. On Day 5, Yasir bowled one over but he was getting a significant amount of turn.

A fantastic Test wicket for all kinds of bowlers and batsmen. Well done to the Karachi groundsman. Couldn't have been easy to prepare this pitch having not had Test cricket for 10 years.

Sri Lanka spinner got a lot of turn on Day 1 too.

 

[Green Patriot]

This was one hell of a pitch. Simply amazing.
Spinner got a 4fer, 2 pacers got a 5fer and 2 got 4fers,5 batsmen got 100s.

Something for everyone. The curators should have gotten a special shoutout. These are the sort of pitches which make test cricket a joy to watch. Amazing stuff.

 

[ChTab]

One of the best wickets ever produced in PK. The last one this good was against the South Africans in Lahore in 2004.

Don't remember lahore test vs africa as i was in my early teens but the one produced vs india in 06 at karachi was as good as this one.

 

[Markhor]

Good to see a balanced, sporting pitch. Such pitches, unlike UAE graveyards, are more likely to produce compelling cricket that'll attract audiences.

 

[Hawkeye]

In hindsight, we're saying that.

On day 3, 4 and 5, most of the PPers were getting outraged at the 'flat' pitch and why scoring is so easier.

Our bowlers did great. Pitch was also good.

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bohat Bohat Mubarak Pakistan&#55356;&#56821;&#55356;&#56816;<br>The entire PCB deserves a credit. Excellent Pitch&#55357;&#56397; Great work by Aga Zahid chief curator & Big Shabaash to the ground staff.. Playing home makes a huge difference you can tell by the body language of the boys <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SLvsPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SLvsPAK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ThankYouKarachi?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ThankYouKarachi</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TheRealPCB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheRealPCB</a> <a href="https://t.co/bleeUejtKG">pic.twitter.com/bleeUejtKG</a></p>— Waqar Younis (@waqyounis99) <a href="https://twitter.com/waqyounis99/status/1209031124292395008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 23, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Bewal Express]

Don't remember lahore test vs africa as i was in my early teens but the one produced vs india in 06 at karachi was as good as this one.

Both the Lahore and Faisalabad wickets were excellent in 2004. The PCB hired Andy Atkinson from England to prepare the pitches.

 

[moghul]

One of the best test wicket I saw in Pakistan , it was wonderful.

Proved Inzi wrong, he wanted spinner's paradise , perhaps expecting Yasir Shah to run through SL, batting, funny.

 

[Abdullah719]

Both the Lahore and Faisalabad wickets were excellent in 2004. The PCB hired Andy Atkinson from England to prepare the pitches.

Well he's back now.

 

[Bewal Express]

Well he's back now.

Is he part of the pitch preparation again in PK?

 

[Abdullah719]

Is he part of the pitch preparation again in PK?

He has been coming to work with curators, groundsmen etc. Will be coming again in January and is expected to keep visiting over the next 6-8 months to assess the development of the pitches.

 

[Bewal Express]

He has been coming to work with curators, groundsmen etc. Will be coming again in January and is expected to keep visiting over the next 6-8 months to assess the development of the pitches.

Great news, but I don't see why our groundsman can't pick up the skills. Surely, it isn't that hard.

 

[shariqnoor]

I'm not so sure it was a great pitch. In the end Pakistan only won because it got the advantage of winning the toss and batting first. If SL played the 3rd innings, they would've racked 500 here and the roles would've been truly reversed.

This was exactly the same pitch that India Pakistan played in 2006.

The pitch had grass on it that only lasted the first two days. Once the grass became straw grass, it became an absolute road. Anyone who plays the 3rd innings will win the match simply because of the mountain of runs they will put on and 99% of the time, the chasing team will crumble.

People are only rejoicing because both times (2006 and now), Pakistan benefited from batting first. It's not going to happen every time.

I have no problems with the pitch having grass but then this grass should be able to last all through the Test match as it does in South Africa. Here the groundsmen are using the grass as a binding agent for the pitch.

I hope pitches in Karachi get better and these sort of highways that they become after Day 2 don't get produced because it massively favors the side batting first. If this goes unchecked, Pakistan would be on the receiving end of a 250 run defeat sooner than later.

 

[omairsiddiqui]

I'm not so sure it was a great pitch. In the end Pakistan only won because it got the advantage of winning the toss and batting first. If SL played the 3rd innings, they would've racked 500 here and the roles would've been truly reversed.

This was exactly the same pitch that India Pakistan played in 2006.

The pitch had grass on it that only lasted the first two days. Once the grass became straw grass, it became an absolute road. Anyone who plays the 3rd innings will win the match simply because of the mountain of runs they will put on and 99% of the time, the chasing team will crumble.

People are only rejoicing because both times (2006 and now), Pakistan benefited from batting first. It's not going to happen every time.

I have no problems with the pitch having grass but then this grass should be able to last all through the Test match as it does in South Africa. Here the groundsmen are using the grass as a binding agent for the pitch.

I hope pitches in Karachi get better and these sort of highways that they become after Day 2 don't get produced because it massively favors the side batting first. If this goes unchecked, Pakistan would be on the receiving end of a 250 run defeat sooner than later.

I don't know about "people" but I would have said the same had SL won.

What is the point of having South Africa-like pitches if most five-day games don't go beyond three days? Both batsmen AND bowlers deserve that the conditions be favorable to them at some point in the game, and that's what happened at Karachi.

 

[shariqnoor]

I don't know about "people" but I would have said the same had SL won.

What is the point of having South Africa-like pitches if most five-day games don't go beyond three days? Both batsmen AND bowlers deserve that the conditions be favorable to them at some point in the game, and that's what happened at Karachi.

Pakistan does not owe anyone perfect Test match pitches. It only owes itself to prepare a pitch that plays to its strength and allows them to win the Test match with the toss being irrelevant. If that means ending the match in 3 days, then so be it.

Here the toss becomes so much crucial and basically guarantees the team batting first winning the test match.

Do India, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka produce pitches that benefits both bowlers and batsmen in equal measure? They in fact prepare dustbowls from the first day playing to their strengths.

 

[Mamoon]

Totally agree with the assessment that it was a poor pitch. It was heavily favored towards the team batting first.

Pakistan got lucky with the toss.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

It was a great pitch. These days there are too many pitches that are too dead (Australia) offer too much spin (India, Sri Lanka) or are a hazard to the lives of batsmen (South Africa). England is the only place where I feel the pitches are most balanced and pitches in New Zealand are generally good too for all except the spinners.

 

[Angrez Pakistani]

Totally agree with the assessment that it was a poor pitch. It was heavily favored towards the team batting first.

Pakistan got lucky with the toss.

And here I thought Sri Lanka got the first innings lead, that too batting second.

 

[Markhor]

The pitch wasn't as difficult as both teams made it look in the 1st innings, nor as flat as Sri Lanka made it look in the 3rd innings with their wayward bowling.

Teams performing badly cannot simply hide behind conditions.

 

[Bewal Express]

I wish all PK pitches were this good. Had something for everyone and most importantly it allowed the paying spectators to get entertained. Great wicket.

 

[Boi]

Totally agree with the assessment that it was a poor pitch. It was heavily favored towards the team batting first.

Pakistan got lucky with the toss.

Rubbish. SL could’ve easily batted Pakistan out of the game by getting a big lead. The likes of Chandimal and De Silva got out very softly when they were in a position to take the game away. You yourself were admitting at the time that Pakistan got lucky with the Chandimal wicket otherwise their lead could’ve been a lot more substantial.

 

[ElRaja]

sl bowled 80 overs of spin (out of 130) in paks second innings, pak bowled 24 overs (out of 65) in srilankas last innings, that says everything.

it was the quicks who were taking wickets till the end, and srilankas quicks bowled poorly in paks second innings, once they tired it was pretty much game over.

against nz, aus, or sa pak would not have won this easily, people blaming the toss pbly didnt watch the game.

 

[Mean&Green]

Totally agree with the assessment that it was a poor pitch. It was heavily favored towards the team batting first.

Pakistan got lucky with the toss.

mamooney reh jao pitch da zabardast se

 

[omairsiddiqui]

Pakistan does not owe anyone perfect Test match pitches. It only owes itself to prepare a pitch that plays to its strength and allows them to win the Test match with the toss being irrelevant. If that means ending the match in 3 days, then so be it.

Here the toss becomes so much crucial and basically guarantees the team batting first winning the test match.

Do India, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka produce pitches that benefits both bowlers and batsmen in equal measure? They in fact prepare dustbowls from the first day playing to their strengths.

I don't think anyone, including the team management, knew what Pak's strengths were after the Australia tour AND because they were playing at home after a decade. Preparing a dustbowl, overly green track, batting heaven or overly bouncy pitch - any of those could've backfired. But the pitch was fair to all and that was the best way to go about it.

SL shot themselves in the foot by not batting better in the first innings. The pitch was significantly better for batting on the second day.

Agree to disagree brother.

 

[Bewal Express]

This pitch should be the template for Domestic pitches. Flat with enough in it for every type of player.

 

[Sher Khan]

The NSK groundsmen deserve appreciation

This test match produced some very exciting cricket. I felt that this pitch had something in it for everyone. It was a great pitch which assisted the seamers when they bowled in the right areas and the batsmen got value for playing strokes.

If anyone noticed almost all of the pak batsmen in the second innings went at a SR over 60- even Azhar Ali!! Which shows it was a good pitch for strokeplay. How it should be. Furthermore, there were two five fors and one four for. Alongside ofcourse 4 hundreds scored by pak batsmen.

Salute to the NSK groundsmen for producing a brilliant pitch.

 

[RidiculousMan]

Missing these kinds of wickets.

Who made this pitch?