No.
Our ODI form in UAE was similar to what it was in Pakistan
So there is good reason to believe and enough cricketing trends observable to confidently state that the results wold be similar in UAE
In fact one of the excuses many PPers used for our poor ODI performances even in UAE was that the UAE conditions aren't suitable and if we were playing in Pakistan we would have been much better. However our record in Pakistan in ODIs wasnt any great either so I always disregarded this argument.
The style of play, the stability and the players ensured that we would have done similarly well in Pakistan as well.
Also in Pakistan even our Test record post 2003 was fairly good with losses to India and I believe SA. Thats it
Agree & disagree on this.
Agree, in a sense that in PAK ball swings, and there is "morning condition" in every Northern PAK venue; so bowlers should have got better assistance than UAE track. Obviously, playing at home is an added mental strength - but, it ends there.
Disagree in terms of results - for 2 reasons. 1st one is subjective - wicket in PAK actually is worse than UAE, which doesn't break even in 7th day. It gets slower & lower by day, without disintegrating the top surface - that's worst of it's type - can't play shot, can't get wickets. It's possible to block & survive for hours with dead bat.
2nd one & the main reason why PAK's Test record is so poor at home (in terms of number of Test wins) is the match duration. In most of the venues, it's not possible to play for 6 hours in winter - add to that deliberate time waste by teams in trouble (most cases tourists), and many cases bad weather curtailing play - combined impact is Test matches reduced to 350-400 overs. One thing UAE ensures that 450 overs are played and that has helped Misbah's team winning many, many Tests. I can tell that at least 75% of those Tests would have ended in draws in PAK due to lack of overs.
A classic example was 2000-01 Pom tour of PAK - that series PAK should have won 3-0, with batting 4 times at most - it ended 0-1 to Poms with 1st lose at Karachi. First, PCB prepared Test wickets which will make Abu Dhabi like WACA and ENG got away with 1st 2 Tests, by kicking around PAK spinners & short duration ensured that they get away by a whisker. 3rd Test was at Karachi, only venue where 90 overs/day possible & END won that Test from one great session with ball.
2nd issue was the wicket - as I'll quote from one PCB idiot (won't name) - ENG has pace bowlers & they can play fast bowling, hame spin track banana chahie ... .... obviously that idiot didn't have the knowledge, that against same team PAK did won last 3 series in pacy & bouncy England .... " So, they prepared absolute dead sand bed which doesn't give anything to spinners or fast bowlers or batsmen.
In that Pom team, they had few stroke makers - Stuart, Hick, Naser - they had nightmare of a series on such wickets, but they had Thorpe, Athers & White as well - players that can spend kicking around for sessions. All 3 had GREAT series against PAK spinners - Saqi, Mushi & Kaneria had very little to offer on a wicket, where if batsmen are not going for shots, they can sit back and block - edges won't carry to short fielders/slips, while the wicket is slow enough to recover, if beaten by flight or guile. AND, unlike IND or BD or SRL, spinners don't "kick" on last 2 days to catch you off guard.
In contrary PAK had 4/5 stroke makers - aggressive players that can play shots, but won't last long with dead bat defense - Saeed, Sohail, Moin, Inzi, Afridi, Razzak, Youhana .... so, an spinner like Ashley Giles had his life time achievements - 20 or so wickets in 3 Tests, just bowling on negative length/line & teasing PAK batsmen with darts, while it took Saq 78 overs to get 9 wickets at Gaddafi, bamboozling Pom batsmen almost every alternate ball through out .... and Thorpe got a hundred in 10 hours, without hitting a boundary (or 1).
Take 2005 Pom tour - Inzi has an unbelievable record, 18 Centuries in Test wins - should have been 21 at least. 1 was missed for Hobart cheating, other 2 was at Faisalabad 2005 - his pair of hundreds were in a match that allowed 380 overs, & Poms survived by edge - add another 70 overs in that match ...
I can give lot many examples - From 1987 ENG tour, 1988 AUS tour, 1989 IND tour, 1991 SRL tour, 1996 SAF tour, 1998 ZIM tour ......... but, probably message understood. Spend some time on score cards & count the total overs of any given Test - it should be self explanatory .... add to that cricket knowledge of PAK's batting type & bowling strength, you should understand why UAE is a blessings in disguise. Apart from those few years under Imran, PAK's home record is absolute rubbish - unbeaten is a vague word - series that should have won 3-0/4-0, 3-1 ... ended in 0-0 or at most 1-0, sometimes 0-1 as well.
Hope, instead of "popular belief", it explains why that team of 1990s had actually worse record than ZIM at home, comparatively. Unpopular believe of mine is the best 2 places for PAK team to play cricket is IND & UK, worst 2 are PAK & UAE - obviously I can't prove that, what this tam can achieve on those free scoring, true surfaces, with a bit of swing, carry & consistent bounce, but not much off the track movement.
