Are lack of proper pitches the sole reason why Pakistan batting is decades behind top tier teams?

[mominsaigol]

Since I started watching cricket, I alongside many others have blamed Pakistani batsmen for playing with an outdated approach and being overall medicore compared to the likes of SENA and India.

So many topics have arisen critising the lack of SR or How new and upcoming batters like Usman Khan and Azam Khan are extremely medicore to Upcoming batters of Top teams like Australia(Jake fraser Mcgurk) or How Babar and rizwan are criticised to death over and over.

But here's a question, most of our rising youngsters are unfortunately playing 95% of their FC, List A and Local T20 games on such road pitches?

If you look at players of the past like Mohammad Yousaf, they improved tremendously from playing county Cricket on English home soil.

So how can any our players improve or become generational superstars, if such pitches are ones they are practising and playing on?

No wonder PSL superstars and Future test hype machines get exposed and bullied by international sides overseas.

 

[Bhaijaan]

No. It’s the curse.

In the 80s and 90s , Pakistan had good batsmen. Then in late 1990s when Tendulkar emerged, many Pakistani fans (mostly of the British origin) refused to acknowledge his greatness , mocked him, often compared him with lesser batsmen to a point the rest of us confused that Pakistani fans in general don’t understand batting and it’s pointless to debate with them on this topic.

The curse of the above blasphemous acts committed was such that the last few generations of Pakistani batters have had stunted growth.

Once the fans start showing respect to true batsmanship once again, the curse will be broken.

 

[mominsaigol]

No. It’s the curse.

In the 80s and 90s , Pakistan had good batsmen. Then in late 1990s when Tendulkar emerged, many Pakistani fans (mostly of the British origin) refused to acknowledge his greatness , mocked him, often compared him with lesser batsmen to a point the rest of us confused that Pakistani fans in general don’t understand batting and it’s pointless to debate with them on this topic.

The curse of the above blasphemous acts committed was such that the last few generations of Pakistani batters have had stunted growth.

Once the fans start showing respect to true batsmanship once again, the curse will be broken.

What has Tendulkar and the 1990's perception have anything to do with current pitches being roads?

 

[Romali_rotti]

Terrible pitches breed bits n pieces batsmen and bowlers like what Pakistan currently keeps rolling out. You may get lucky with the odd diamond like Babar Azam but the rest are just junk..


Who am I kidding everything about Pakistan is hopeless from the country,state of political affairs to its cricket team.. It's a lost cause.

 

[Vikram1989]

If you think of pak pitches,you can't say any trait of them apart from low bounce.Even bng pitches are so bad to think them as paddy fields .ppers can point out sa series against pak for good pitches ,but u should have good pitches for a duration to consider.it looks like pcb is not interested in anything and they want to squeeze every last penny before it dries out

 

[mominsaigol]

If you think of pak pitches,you can't say any trait of them apart from low bounce.Even bng pitches are so bad to think them as paddy fields .ppers can point out sa series against pak for good pitches ,but u should have good pitches for a duration to consider.it looks like pcb is not interested in anything and they want to squeeze every last penny before it dries out

Bangladesh is a poor board. Pakistan is the 4th richest. So having these level of pitches is unacceptable

 

[FastBowlingAllrounder]

Bangladesh is a poor board. Pakistan is the 4th richest. So having these level of pitches is unacceptable

In order to fully leverage the resources available there must be proper and professional administrators. This is something PCB has lacked since day dot.

The severe lack of foresight means that either the board is inactive in developing things like the stadiums when the country is supposed to hold an ICC tournament next year, or decisions are made without understanding their future consequences. The use of Dukes balls in FC cricket while continuing to use the Kookaburra in Tests is an example of this.

 

[Bewal Express]

We need a soil expert to tell us whether there is more than meets the eye in terms of producing better and faster wickets. This topic isn't new, I played club cricket with a PK pro( PNSC) back in the mid 90s and I asked him why are wickets were so rubbish. His answer was the lack of grass left on the wickets. I asked Saqlain( around 2002) and he said our wickets were nothing wickets- no pace, no bounce and no spin. So the question has to be asked as to whether our climate doesn't allow it? The only time I remember PK had decent wickets was in 2004 against SA and they were under the supervision of Andy Atkinson. So if it's a climatic hindrance why was he able to produce those wickets.

 

[Cricket Warrior]

lack of game awareness actually letting them down otherwise other teams also play on the same pitch where pakistan plays but gives u better results.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Both knee length bounce pitches and 80s style old coaching method are the sole reason we are not producing good batters. I think it's evident by now to any one even with just basic understanding of cricket. Even when we were producing better talent in the 90s and early 2000s all the batters who become somewhat competitive to other batters around the world are due to county cricket with proper coaching and good pitches.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Even now the allrounders at U16 level are encourage to either become a batter or a bowler by the domestic coaches , they are being told to play in the V with pretty looking technique and no rash shot even if there is a bowl to be attack and literally zero out of the box thinking allowed by the coaches at U16 level infact they are punished for not playing in the V and as a result we are producing Saud Shakeel , Kamran Ghulam , Azan Awais , Saad Khan etc who all are good traditional batters in subcontinental conditions with low bounce and no seam movement and some little spin but once they go to Australia they just get expose badly.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

Another reason for further regression in batting quality is that we are not producing quality spinners who can turn the bowl and proper 4 day fast bowlers with real stamina who can bowl through the day bowl between 135-142kph consistently.

Domestic pacers only in their first spell manages 138-142k pace and later on the bowl around 128-133k which makes things far easier for those playing in the V style batters.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

This is the reason our domestic players never improves because they are used to face darters and trundlers in domestic cricket with low bounce pitches , even if they keep playing for decades they will not going to perform against high bounce , high pace with seam movement and actual spinning deliveries because they never faced such bowlers in their life on a consistent basis. This is the reason Saud couldn't even perform in club cricket at UK because through out his domestic career he only used to face trundlers and darters on low bounce pitches and he kept milking them by playing in the V.

 

[Markhor]

I wouldn't even mind a flat pitch provided it deteriorated on Days 4 and 5 and brought the spinners into play.

However our wickets play about as well on Day 5 as they do on Day 1. Pakistan collapsed in the 2nd innings not because the pitch played any tricks but from their own foolishness.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

I wouldn't even mind a flat pitch provided it deteriorated on Days 4 and 5 and brought the spinners into play.

However our wickets play about as well on Day 5 as they do on Day 1. Pakistan collapsed in the 2nd innings not because the pitch played any tricks but from their own foolishness.

We have lost the plot in a similar way across formats for many years.

How many games have we lost where all of a sudden the players just shut down and forget how to play cricket?

It happens with both bat and ball. I'm not sure how you change this level of capitulation under what is minor pressure at most.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

I wouldn't even mind a flat pitch provided it deteriorated on Days 4 and 5 and brought the spinners into play.

However our wickets play about as well on Day 5 as they do on Day 1. Pakistan collapsed in the 2nd innings not because the pitch played any tricks but from their own foolishness.

Pitch did play tricks in the 3rd innings. There was spin and quite a bit of uneven bounce.

Otherwise , there was no chance of a result .

 

[IAJ]

Batters can't make runs, fast bowlers can't take wickets, spinners can't spin the ball, fielders can't take catches, coaches can't coach, the board can't run cricket, spectators don't want to attend the matches, commies can't commentate and I can't understand why all this is happening.

 

[Deewana Mastana]

We have lost the plot in a similar way across formats for many years.

How many games have we lost where all of a sudden the players just shut down and forget how to play cricket?

It happens with both bat and ball. I'm not sure how you change this level of capitulation under what is minor pressure at most.

I've said it for decades it's a mentality issue.

Our players are mentally shot, haven't got the understanding of how to adjust to any situation and play/plan accordingly. This is a mental thing and that's where our entire cricket is lacking.

It's an issue from all the way down to all the way up throughout the country.

 

[Aang_The_last_airbender]

I firmly believe, its the over glorification of mindless slogger Shahid Afridi who played for nearly 2 decades ruined Pakistan batting beyond repair.
This generation is just trying to emulate and achieve the veneration that "boom boom" Afridi received from the Pakistani fans.

Babar Azam has been the best batsman from Pakistan for the last decade and people kept posting about his low Strike rate or lack of sixes rather letting him improve on his technical flaws.
You get what you desire, Pakistan fans have been yearning for boom boom Afridis and that's what you have. A batting line up with 20 something averages.