A bold call and backing strengths: How Pakistan won their 1st home Test in 4 years

A bold call, some radical changes and playing to their strengths and Pakistan have finally won their first Test match at home in nearly 4 years. Shan Masood’s side, on October 18 beat England in Multan to script a mega comeback in the series. This was also Masood’s first win as a Test captain, his first in 7 games after replacing Babar Azam as the skipper in the red-ball format of the game.
The win came on the back of a sensational perormances of two spinners – Sajid Khan and Noman Ali – who picked all 20 wickets of England. This was the first time since 1956 that two spinners picked up all 20 wickets in a Test match. This was also the first time in many years that Pakistan played a Test match in an out and out spin bowling track, where they dominated the visiting side.
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The win brought a sense of calm in the Pakistan cricketing ecosystem, which had been reeling under pressure. Pakistan had botched multiple Test matches – some by preparing docile wickets, and some by playing a horrendous brand of cricket. The rare win was hailed by players, fans and experts alike, and why not, after all, it came after much public drama, which involved everyone from the Pakistan cricketing ecosystem – starting from players, coaches, selectors and even the chairman of the board – Mohsin Naqvi.
“I don’t mind [the pitch], actually. I quite like the quirk of it. When you’re playing at home, you should have home advantage. I guess after the first Test match, we were able to go 1-0 up something had to give, and they took a punt on it. I don’t have a problem with it at all,” McCullum said after England slumped to defeat in the second Test.
The first Test match between England and Pakistan was a menace. The hosts scored 550+ runs and despite that ended up losing the Test match. In that game England hit 800+ runs and absolutely drubbed Pakistan into the ground.
After the match, former PCB chairman Ramiz Raja had slammed the wicket asking if Pakistan needed to prepare these kinds of wickets at all.
“I’m sure bowlers will be questioning the quality of this track because they bend their back and nothing has happened,” said Raja. “You start questioning why such a surface was provided and why are we playing on such a surface at home,” he further added.
This was the same Ramiz Raja, who had said back in 2022 that Pakistan were years away from making a good 5-day pitch. Back then he had advocated for drop-ins from Australia.
“I have really not cracked the code regarding a Test match pitch, unfortunately,” Raja said at lunch on the second day of the first Test. “The reason why I’m stressing on drop-in pitches in Pakistan is, you’ll go to Multan or you’ll go to Karachi and you’ll get a similar flavour. We don’t get bounce. It’s got to do with clay, how we prepare a pitch, I don’t know what is happening. T20s and ODIs, we are fine, and the pitch doesn’t come under that come kind of scrutiny, but we are still years away from preparing a good five-day pitch,” Raja had said.
The inability to trust a curator to make a sporting pitch meant that Pakistan built absolute roads hoping that the batters would score massive runs and then reverse swing would come into play. However, this method did not pay off and Pakistan failed to win the series against Australia and New Zealand.
The move really backfired when Bazballing England came knocking in 2022 and whitewashed them 3-0 at their own backyard.
Needing results, Pakistan turned to the bowlers and made a drastically different track for the Bangladesh series. They put a lot of grass on the surface and yet a result could not arrive. In fact, after the pacers also failed to turn up, Pakistan lost their first ever series against Bangladesh.
By this time, Pakistan cricket had reached its lowest lows and it seemed that only a divine intervention could bring Pakistan out of the slump.
Pakistan curators once again failed to deliver in the first Test match at Multan and that prompted an epic reaction from the Pakistan Cricket Board.
In a public statement ahead of the 2nd Test match at the same venue, PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi ordered better pitches from the venues. No one would have ever thought that the better pitch would be the same Multan pitch – battered and worn out over the 5 days.
Former England cricketer and commentator Nasser Hussain exclaimed that this was the first time in his life 2 separate Test matches were being played back to back on the same venue and on the same pitch. The Multan wicket was watered and then dried using sun and fans for it to heavily aid spin.
The strategy had Aaqib Javed written all over it. The newly appointed selector had once said in a podcast that Pakistan’s real strength was spin and the country needed to dish out spin friendly tracks against visiting teams.
“What’s your formula for a Test match? Do you have 3 spinners? Play them. Remove all the grass, and make it a dry pitch. Make it rough. Keep brushing it. They will lose, won’t they? They will. 100 per cent, they will lose. The second thing is the reverse swing. Again, dry out the square — it will spin and it will reverse. They can’t win,” Aaqib Javed had told Public Digital.
One of the most ridiculous moves was perhaps dropping three of the biggest Pakistan players in recent times. Babar Azam, Naseem Shah and Shaheen Afridi were dropped from the side to make space of debutant Kamran Ghulam, veteran spinners Sajid Khan and Noman Ali.
Pakistan showed trust in their domestic set-up, in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy. Ghulam, a seasoned campaigner was given his due and debuted as Babar Azam’s position. The result – a century on debut. With nerves of steel, Ghulam laid the foundation for Pakistan’s incredible comeback in the Test series.
What about the spinners? Sajid Khan and Noman Ali picked all 20 wickets in the Test match, the first instance of a complete wipe-out by spinners in 1956. In fact, the duo were so good that Shan Masood did not bowl anyone else in the second innings at all.
The Multan win holds incredible significance for Pakistan. Don’t be fancy by dishing out grass on tracks, that cannot sustain good bounce and carry throughout 5 days. Don’t dish out highways where your batters can boost up their averages and be brave enough to make changes for the good of the team. Trust your domestic competition, which can be the backbone of your country and above all be smart. Be smart and you can return back to being a side that deserves to be in Test cricket.