Salman Butt, the former captain of the Pakistan cricket team, has strongly criticized the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Recently, Pakistan lost the Test series against Australia on home soil. The pitch used in the first two matches of this series was heavily criticized.
Now Salman Butt has also expressed his displeasure over the board making such a pitch. Butt said that the technical ability and skill of a captain is gauged in Tests and ODIs. He continued that Test cricket makes it very easy to gauge the capability of the captain, but the way PCB is making the pitch, leaves nothing in the captain’s hands.
“A captain’s skills and tactical ability are visible more in Test cricket and ODIs, which we play very less. Test cricket gives the best chance to see a captain’s ability but the kind of pitches we make at home, it takes everything away from a captain in terms of strategy,” said Butt.
In March this year, Australia played a three-match Test series in Pakistan, of which, the first two matches ended in a draw result. In the first Test, despite bowling 379.1 overs, only 14 wickets had fallen and three innings could not be completed.
Australia had a chance to win the match in the second test, but Babar Azam scored 196 runs in 425 balls to help his team draw the match. Pakistan batted 171.4 overs in the fourth innings in total, that led to the survival of the Pakistan cricket team.
However, the final Test saw a close match between the ball and the bat and that was the reason it turned out to be the result. Neither team could bat for 150 overs in all four innings of this match. Australia registered the win over the home team to make it 1-0 series win from the 3 match series.
Pakistan cricket team next takes on the mighty West Indies cricket team in a 3 match ODI series from June the 8th. This is the continuation of the series played between both the sides last year, which had to be halted mid-way through due to COVID-19.