- Spinners should not look at pitch conditions to take wickets- Saeed Ajmal
- Ajmal further said that if spinners can’t take wickets on a flat pitch then they should quit playing cricket
- Hr added that Pakistan should make spin-friendly pitches for the Australia tour
Pakistan’s former legendary spinner Saeed Ajmal has expressed his views on the never-ending criticism on Pakistan pitches ever since the Australian team has stepped foot in the country. The two pitches used in the Pindi and Karachi Tests were deemed flat and saw no result as the two matches were drawn with the former being too dull and boring also.
Ajmal who has 178 wickets in Tests and 184 wickets in ODIs, in an interview, said that ‘flat pitches’ are no excuse for covering up incapability of taking wickets, especially for the spinners. Only 14 wickets fell in the Rawalpindi Test and the lack of it was blamed on the pitch. Being a spinner himself, he said a bowler like himself shouldn’t look at the pitch condition and rather should focus on taking wickets.
“If the spinner is going to look at the pitch and then bowl, what is the point of being a spinner then? Spinners need to learn to perform in all conditions. These were flat pitches and honestly, many decks in Test cricket are like this,”
The 44-year-old also criticized the players for not properly utilizing the variations in the pace and also slammed them for complaining about the pitch being too flat as an excuse for the incapability of claiming scalps
“There are two things; one is where you spin yourself and the other where spin happens for you. These are two fundamentally different things. The one who spins himself can take wickets in any condition. Our problem is that we don’t utilize the pace variations enough,”
“To take wickets, you need temperament. You need to bowl a good 8-10 overs to play mind games with the batsmen and then you will be able to execute your plan. If you want to complain about ‘flat pitches’ then you should quit cricket,”
He further added that the Pakistan team can take advantage of their spinners since the visitors aren’t too fond of playing that bowling style and so good spin bowling can become our bowler’s strength. A good spinning track can be of serious advantage for the men in green.
“Our strength can also be spin tracks and Australia don’t necessarily play spin well. Nauman Ali picked up six wickets on a flat pitch, imagine how our bowlers will perform if the pitch conditions are a bit more suited to our spinners,”
In the end, the Islamabad United coach hailed Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan for their marvellous performances in the second Test in Karachi.
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