The International Cricket Council (ICC) has officially declared all three pitches used during the recently concluded Test series between Pakistan and England as satisfactory.
This ruling will provide a confidence boost to the higher-ups at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as well as the coaches and players of the national setup who can now push forward with preparing similar surfaces in the future should they wish to do so without worry of being penalized by the ICC.
Pakistan were handed a thrashing in the first Test of the series, where England trounced Pakistan by putting up a mammoth score of 823/7 on a rather drab and lifeless pitch, winning the match by an innings and 47 runs.
The Pakistan setup took some bold steps in response, dropping star players Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Naseem Shah for the remaining tests, and opting to reuse the same surface from the first test.
Reusing the surface proved pivotal, as the pitch opened up and paved the way for turning conditions, enabling the spin twins of Sajid Khan and Noman Ali to run riot over England in the second tests and securing Pakistan’s first Test win on home soil in what had been quite a while.
Pakistan were not ones to rest on their laurels for the deciding Test in Rawalpindi either, deploying fans and patio heaters to encourage further spin conditions in what was later revealed to be a masterstroke of a plan by former ICC Umpire and now member of the PCB Selection Panel Aleem Dar.
The plan worked once more, with Sajid and Noman repeating their heroics from the second test, handing Pakistan a much-needed series win and finally, a working strategy for home conditions.
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