Pakistan captain Shan Masood has strongly defended Pakistan’s decision to produce a spin-friendly bowl. After Pakistan clinched a 127-run victory in the shortest Test ever to produce a result on Pakistani soil, much of Masood’s press conference was dominated by talk of the dryness and fragility of the soil in question.
“We will do whatever we need to do to get 20 wickets and win the match,” Masood said. “We don’t even play domestic cricket in these conditions. It’s something new for us as well. We changed that during the England series because we wanted our team to win. We have to appreciate the hard work of our bowlers, who have been getting us 20 wickets consistently.”
In these respects, the decision was an unmitigated success. Since losing their first match to England in October on a flat pitch, Pakistan have been relentless in their pursuit of the kind of surface they wanted to set up. Particular emphasis has been placed on the measures they have taken to ensure that publicity remains their most potent – and perhaps only – threat.
The second Test against England was played on the same surface as the first, with giant fans to dry it out. The third Test at Rawalpindi, which is not normally rotated until late in the match, was dried by wedding-style heaters and fans encased in windbreakers; England even made the accusation, though no concrete evidence has emerged. Before this Test in Multan in midwinter, Pakistan had gone a step further, enclosing the surface in a greenhouse while it was warmed by those heaters and giant fans.
Each surface produced the effect – and the result Pakistan were after. The spinners – Sajid Khan and Nauman Ali in particular – had little difficulty in taking 20 wickets; none of the opposing bowlers have fallen to the bowlers since. Each of those three matches resulted in convincing Pakistani victories.
Masood pointed out that the victories were not inevitable, but were the result of Pakistan playing better cricket in all departments in each match. “If you look at the batsmen individually, it doesn’t make good reading. But our batsmen have batted better than the West Indies, and better than England’s batsmen in October. If you just look at the hundreds and fifties and judge them by the raw numbers, it will be misleading. Just as we have to be flexible in our style of play, viewers will also need to be flexible in their thinking. Look at India’s chart and their home averages and you will understand the point. If conditions are stable, getting 20 wickets is difficult. We have sacrificed individual achievements for team results.” Masood’s comments suggest that Pakistan have no plans yet to change what has been a successful strategy for them. While the World Test Championship (WTC) tournament has proved an unhappy one – they will finish second from bottom – they have, on paper, a much softer draw in the next two-year tournament. The national team play three two-match home series against South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka, and three away series against the West Indies, England and Bangladesh. Masoud explained that they are looking to qualify for the final round in 2027, and if that happens, the path goes through "winning all our matches at home."
He also dismissed any concerns that his fellow batsmen were unhappy with the playing conditions, and allayed concerns about a repeat of the fast bowling in the Pakistan Test. “We can’t pit bowlers and batters against each other,” he said. “The toughest thing to do here is bat and bowl fast. West Indies haven’t scored 141 in any of their innings, and yet we had one partnership [Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan] that did. The mistake is that we should have maybe tried to string some partnerships around that big partnership. Performance is not just about scoring centuries; in some circumstances, an extra 10-20 runs can make all the difference. “If someone has to sacrifice there, like the fast bowlers or the batsmen, so be it. There will be contests where we feel we can set up seam-friendly bowls. Then the fast bowlers will get a chance to get wickets like the spinners here. We need to work on how we progress as a team. “The WTC is a two-year tournament, so fast bowlers will be involved. We have away series in England and the West Indies with the Dukes ball. When a team from the subcontinent comes here, we might be counting seam-friendly wickets. In the bigger picture, no one’s role is being underestimated.”
Pakistan will not play another Test match for nine months, with just two games scheduled in the next 14 months. For Masood, that was the biggest concern, a situation he considered unacceptable.
“I have complained about this issue and raised it a number of times; a nation like Pakistan cannot play 4-5 Test matches in a year. This is something that we as a nation have to push for. A gap of ten months, then if you come and play in these conditions, it could be completely different. Our first-class season will also probably have just started by then. “Those ten months are important, and hopefully we can get international and domestic cricket, and hopefully we can nurture the players we have in the Tests over the next ten months so that they are ready for the series against South Africa in October.” Ten months is a long time in cricket, as Masood knows all too well, especially in Pakistan cricket. But in a country where a captain can live or die on the results his team gets, it is no surprise that Masood is unapologetic about a strategy that was currently getting his team those wins, regardless of the appearance that comes with it.
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