Is Misbah-ul-Haq's criticism of the UAE curators justified?

[Rafay Shafiq]

As per Misbah expression of disappointment on sharjah pitch after the match and the news reports in daily jang that he express his anger on curator Jamil.

Do you think Misbah criticism on Sharjah pitch is justified?
In my opinion the pitch was better and livelier than Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Fast bowlers also extracting help.

 

[Cricfan4eva]

It does sound sour if he did it after the defeat and not right from the outset but his criticism is fair.

Pakistan wont get dead or slow wickets in upcoming NZ and Aus tour, so why shouldn't they hope to get those kind of pitches at least at UAE.

 

[MenInG]

I guess he wanted home advantage for Yasir Shah to come into play.

Remember our playbook for UAE is spin domination.

 

[pakistani pride]

He is right and he said it from the 1st test. During all 3 tests batting on day 5 was pretty easy. There was ultra slow spin if it even was there.

 

[Red Devil]

It does sound sour if he did it after the defeat and not right from the outset but his criticism is fair.

Pakistan wont get dead or slow wickets in upcoming NZ and Aus tour, so why shouldn't they hope to get those kind of pitches at least at UAE.

Tbf he criticized the pitch after the first Test as well.

 

[Rafay Shafiq]

This also show Misbah lack of confidence on fast bowlers

 

[Saj]

The pitches just seemed different this time around than they were against the likes of England.

The surfaces seemed slower, didn't break up and offered the bowlers next to nothing.

I think with Pakistan being the home team, Misbah has every right to be annoyed with the curators.

 

[Barragan]

He has every right to have an outburst.

If Yasir and co. aren't going to get any spin from their home surfaces, then do they expect to get it away?

It would be a miracle, if away sides like SA, NZ, Eng, Aus etc decided to prepare turners.

You have to play to your strengths and that is spin bowling, hence the frustration from Misbah.

 

[AlphaFighter]

Sour grapes. West Indies had the same pitch to deal with. They went ahead with the job without complaints.

 

[Red Devil]

Sour grapes. West Indies had the same pitch to deal with. They went ahead with the job without complaints.

This is just absurd. West Indies weren't the home team, the home team gets to decide what kind of pitches they want.

 

[Rafay Shafiq]

This is just absurd. West Indies weren't the home team, the home team gets to decide what kind of pitches they want.

Home advantage or not, at least Misbah is accepting that West Indies fast bowlers are better than Pakistan

 

[aloo paratha]

It does sound sour if he did it after the defeat and not right from the outset but his criticism is fair.

Pakistan wont get dead or slow wickets in upcoming NZ and Aus tour, so why shouldn't they hope to get those kind of pitches at least at UAE.

He criticized pitches before the 1st or 2nd test for sure.

 

[aloo paratha]

Sour grapes. West Indies had the same pitch to deal with. They went ahead with the job without complaints.

Doesn't mean it's a good pitch. Both teams would have to deal with a 600 run pitch, does it make it any less worth the criticism?

 

[Red Devil]

Home advantage or not, at least Misbah is accepting that West Indies fast bowlers are better than Pakistan

I don't think Misbah gave any official statements regarding the Sharjah pitch. As per the OP, these are insider reports.

 

[Saj]

I don't think Misbah gave any official statements regarding the Sharjah pitch. As per the OP, these are insider reports.

He mentioned this at press conferences etc.

 

[Red Devil]

He mentioned this at press conferences etc.

Ah, I see.

 

[JibranAnsari]

I think the playing conditions in december , january and february are better, the weather gets a little better and also some moisture as well.

 

[NauV]

Absolutely justified! These pitches are a bad advert for the sport (let alone just test cricket), plain and simple! They have become progressively slower and lower . . and he did complain abotu the pitches after all 3 tests if I am not mistaken . .

I have seen some comments about Junaid Khan being very good in the UAE . . Although I wanna take absolutely nothing away from Junaid Khan, but the pitches he performed on 3 to 4 years ago were a lot different to what they are now . .

These pitches are doing more harm to Pakistan than good! They definitely need to be relaid or something or re-engineered . . whatever it is taht you do with pitches . . but these pitches are just abysmal!

 

[Adil_94]

the pitches could have been better but in the last test it was our batting that cost us. That was never a 281 all out pitch batting first. But i would like some pure turners in UAE. Yasir would run riot.

 

[Justcrazy]

Pakistan need to produce pitches where there is little turn and bounce. Some turn is enough for them to come into play , no need for rank turners.

 

[Hasan123]

Pitches in uae are a joke. Need to find a way to get them to spin or at least have some bounce in it. The outfield is also pathetic.

I understand Misbah and others who are fustrated with uae pitches.

 

[Bilal7]

Of course it is. Compared to teams like India and Australia we're getting no home advantage at all.

Full credit to the players though.

 

[Buffet]

Pitches are dull for cricket to be honest.

 

[AlphaFighter]

I remember Waqar once mentioning that if the PCB wanted full control of the groundsmen and the curators then they would need to purchase the Stadiums from the UAE authorities which is going to be an expensive exercise.

 

[moghul]

Simply ridiculous , no reason to criticize the wicket where WI batted well you and could not.

 

[street cricketer]

Misbah shouldn't really be whining about the pitches like that.

Since a lot of Pak fans like to take the moral highground regarding India, SL and Bangladesh using their home conditions and Pakistan not doing so, it is only fair that the captain keeps up with the lofty standard of the fans' ethics and etiquette of playing cricket.

 

[Bilal7]

Misbah shouldn't really be whining about the pitches like that.

Since a lot of Pak fans like to take the moral highground regarding India, SL and Bangladesh using their home conditions and Pakistan not doing so, it is only fair that the captain keeps up with the lofty standard of the fans' ethics and etiquette of playing cricket.

Good to see you having seen the light regarding the fact that the UAE curators are not in Misbah's pocket, unlike the situation elsewhere.

 

[street cricketer]

Good to see you having seen the light regarding the fact that the UAE curators are not in Misbah's pocket, unlike the situation elsewhere.

Definitely, it's just that I find it hard to believe that the tracks change from under prepared ones in LOIs to pattas in Tests. Sounds a bit too convenient for me. I dunno, just maybe Pakistan prefer the UAE test wickets more suitable for their attritional brand of cricket than rank turners.

And it's not like the PCB is immune from taking advantages to suit their team's chances. Remember the scheduling and canceling of series so that their team makes the cut for the champions trophy?

 

[Amjid Javed]

Slow wickets... not abbrasive surfaces to allow for reverse swing, did not offer any turn either.. pretty poor surfaces all series and misbah was right to complain.

 

[Bilal7]

Definitely, it's just that I find it hard to believe that the tracks change from under prepared ones in LOIs to pattas in Tests. Sounds a bit too convenient for me. I dunno, just maybe Pakistan prefer the UAE test wickets more suitable for their attritional brand of cricket than rank turners.

And it's not like the PCB is immune from taking advantages to suit their team's chances. Remember the scheduling and canceling of series so that their team makes the cut for the champions trophy?

Dude, this is the team captain criticizing the pitches and you think he wants to play on them anyway? Please explain what Misbah is trying to achieve here by first allegedly requesting lifeless pitches and then criticizing these same lifeless pitches.

That is a totally different situation because the PCB actually has control over the scheduling of the series unlike the pitches which are not in their control.

 

[troodon]

I didn't see Misbah criticizing the pitch when Azhar Ali scored a triple and Pakistan bullied West Indies in the first Test. The pitch was exactly the same. No pace, low bounce and no turn.
West Indies captain did not complain about the pitch.

How the heck did Bishoo get so many wickets on a non-turner? Its just that Pak batting suddenly lost form and were crumbling to innocuous deliveries.

These are the same wickets that Pakistan used to pile 500 every time they came out to bat and saw the opposition crumble under pressure.

 

[street cricketer]

Dude, this is the team captain criticizing the pitches and you think he wants to play on them anyway? Please explain what Misbah is trying to achieve here by first allegedly requesting lifeless pitches and then criticizing these same lifeless pitches.

That is a totally different situation because the PCB actually has control over the scheduling of the series unlike the pitches which are not in their control.

But are all the UAE wickets lifeless though? Yes they are definitely flat for the first 3 days, but they start assisting turn in the last 2 days (obviously not to the same extent as in India, but they do break up in the final days). The problem with this wicket was that it remained flattish throughout and didn't break up as much to assist the spinners in the final two days and hence the criticism of Misbah for this particular wicket. The ball went soft as well, and it's always hard to create chances with a soft ball as India found out in the West Indies in the drawn match after the rain break. It is why Misbah express his criticism of this particular wicket and not in the first or second test match. I don't think you can simply brand all the UAE tracks as "lifeless".

 

[Bilal7]

But are all the UAE wickets lifeless though? Yes they are definitely flat for the first 3 days, but they start assisting turn in the last 2 days (obviously not to the same extent as in India, but they do break up in the final days). The problem with this wicket was that it remained flattish throughout and didn't break up as much to assist the spinners in the final two days and hence the criticism of Misbah for this particular wicket. The ball went soft as well, and it's always hard to create chances with a soft ball as India found out in the West Indies in the drawn match after the rain break. It is why Misbah express his criticism of this particular wicket and not in the first or second test match. I don't think you can simply brand all the UAE tracks as "lifeless".

All UAE wickets post-2013 have been extremely flat and lifeless. Before that they were some of the best Asian wickets around but I don't know why things suddenly changed.

Misbah has been criticizing the pitches for a while now, he didn't just start after the loss in the third game. He criticized the pitch for the second game as well and he's spoken out against a pitch that was laid out for a game against Sri Lanka. Of course, he can't be complaining all the time but it's quite apparent to anyone watching that the Pakistani team is successful despite the UAE pitches not because of them. They would do much better on proper Asian turners given the resources at their disposal.

 

[Abdullah719]

But are all the UAE wickets lifeless though? Yes they are definitely flat for the first 3 days, but they start assisting turn in the last 2 days (obviously not to the same extent as in India, but they do break up in the final days). The problem with this wicket was that it remained flattish throughout and didn't break up as much to assist the spinners in the final two days and hence the criticism of Misbah for this particular wicket. The ball went soft as well, and it's always hard to create chances with a soft ball as India found out in the West Indies in the drawn match after the rain break. It is why Misbah express his criticism of this particular wicket and not in the first or second test match. I don't think you can simply brand all the UAE tracks as "lifeless".

The problem with the UAE pitches is the lack of pace. Even when there is a little spin, it becomes harmless because the pitch is so slow that the batsman has time to adjust. Similarly, this affects scoring - ODI pitches are the same, basically. They aren't tough to score on because the ball is hooping around, it's because they're slow and low and thus you don't get value for your shots... Add to that the slow outfields and you have a pretty terrible combination.

Misbah did mention this in his presser(s) after the first couple of matches, regarding how slow the pitches were.

 

[aqibcric]

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