"Listen, Mr. Loj Chau, you know our coach Akif Javed, who's also part of the selection committee? His strategy for creating spinning wickets has been getting a lot of criticism lately. Rizwan was asked about the slow pitches and how fast bowlers will perform for Pakistan cricket moving forward. Shan Masood and Akif Javed were also asked the same question. First off, regarding these fast bowlers you're talking about, I agree. I was traveling on City Road and noticed both sides of the road..."
On one hand, Shoaib Akhtar is busy with a ton of issues, while Mohammad Amir is just chilling. Mohammad Asif is also around, and so is Wasim Akram. Waqar Younis is just sitting there too. Listen, if you have an idea about domestic cricket, those folks who are questioning the use of the Duke ball need to understand that it doesn’t really get old. Our fast bowlers in domestic cricket manage just fine with a new ball. Once the ball gets a bit worn out, they take it apart because, you know, they’re playing with a Duke ball, and it doesn’t really age in the same way. They know what they’re doing.
The pace just isn't there. It's obvious, man. If you're using an old ball, you need to have pace to get someone out. Just check out Shoaib Akhtar; he could get people out with an old ball because he had the pace. But with an old ball, you can't do much; it just doesn't work. That's what's been happening to you for the past few years. Instead of blaming Akib and the others, why don't you talk to the PCB about it?"
We need to bring in a system for domestic cricket where our fast bowlers have to bowl with an old ball. That way, they can work on increasing their pace. Right now, they just fix everything with the new ball. Once the ball gets a bit old, it seems like they turn into medium pacers, which they kind of are anyway. But there should be some skill involved. You know how it is—guys come in, bowl a few overs, and then leave. Akif Javeed is right when he says that Australia makes pitches that suit them at home.
England makes pitches to suit their home advantage, India makes pitches to suit theirs, South Africa does the same for theirs. So why shouldn't we? What bad luck do we have? What’s going to happen to us? Are we cursed or something? It's not like spin wickets are a big deal. Producing spinners is our specialty, and we've been winning Test series and Test matches based on our spin bowlers. There's nothing hidden about that. Just look at Yasir Shah, Saeed Ajmal, and Mohammad.
Hafeez Abdul Rahman, or whatever you wanna call him, we win Test cricket based on his foundation. Tell me, which Test series have we won that's been based on pure fast bowlers? Akib says you should've done this a long time ago, and he's right. If you had started this a few years back, making it a spin-friendly wicket to catch the spinners, maybe today you'd be contenders for the World Test Championship final. What a joke.
The kind of performance we’re seeing now wasn’t happening before. Bangladesh came to your home and beat you 2-0. The coach said, "Hey, make some spinning wickets," so you’re making spinning wickets, and now you’re winning the Test series. But you’re not producing fast bowlers. There’s a whole process to developing fast bowlers, and you need to implement that in your domestic cricket. I mean, if your fast bowlers don’t know how to bowl with an old ball, then you’ve got problems because the game is played with that.
"Come on, after 20 overs, the ball gets old and you have to bowl 80 overs. Just think about it—out of 80 or 90 overs, if you’ve already bowled 20-25 overs, how many overs are left? You have to bowl all those with the old ball. Your fast bowlers don’t even have the stamina to take wickets with an old ball, so it’s gonna be the spinners who step up, right? So, I think this whole home advantage thing is pretty straightforward. When you had a lineup of fast bowlers, you weren’t winning all the Test series abroad either."
You were losing even when you had Shoaib Akhtar, Asif, Aamir, and everyone else. You weren’t winning any Test series, whether it was in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, or England. You weren’t around back then either. At least take advantage of home conditions! Your spinners are fine; it's your fast bowlers who aren’t performing. Just give those spinners enough confidence to go out there and grab some wickets, improve their skills. This is just pointless talk.
It's the same old story; when the Pakistan team starts winning, some people suddenly get a stomachache. I'm talking about our own folks in the media. They start thinking, "Oh no, they're winning now; how are we going to criticize them?" That's their problem because they have to keep talking, right? They come on TV and say all sorts of things, and you’re left wondering, "What’s going on here?" Someone's saying this, someone’s saying that, and when spinners take wickets, where do the fast bowlers fit in? Come on, who do you have in fast bowlers?
Fast bowler Haris Rauf isn’t playing much; he just started playing first-class cricket. There’s also Shaheen, but he isn’t that express pace bowler. There was a time when you had express pace bowlers, but since then, you haven’t had any real express bowlers. You should focus on developing the talent and skills you have, instead of just complaining about what’s happened. It’s like, come on, we’re not going to dominate in test series if we keep thinking like this.
"Get your line sorted; it’s not just about fast bowling. You need the right skill set. Like they say, even if your pace is around 130-135, you’ve got to have control. Glenn McGrath wasn’t the fastest bowler, right? But he knew how to bowl in both Test and white-ball cricket. So go learn from McGrath! Seriously, bring him in, have a chat with him, and get him to work with your domestic fast bowlers. He’ll help you out. It’s not rocket science, really.
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