Head Coach Gillespie Gives Shut-Up Call To PAK Batters After They Demanded Flat Pitches For ENG Tests – Report

Pakistan’s men’s cricket team will face England in a three-match Test series, the first match of which is scheduled to take place at Multan Cricket Stadium from Monday (October 7) onwards. Ahead of the series opener, former Pakistani cricketer Basit Ali, who has now donned the hat of an expert, shared an inside story from Pakistan camp and said that Men in Green batters want flat pitches for the upcoming red-ball series in front of home fans, but Test team’s head coach Jason Gillespie is not in favour of it.

Speaking on his YouTube channel ahead of the first Pakistan-England Test, Basit revealed that Gillespie gave a “shut-up call” to Pakistan batters who wanted grass off the Multan pitch.

“I will give you an inside story. Jason Gillespie has handed a shut-up call to Pakistan batters. He wants the pitch to remain the same that has been prepared by the groundsman. Pakistan batters wanted to cut off the grace to make it a flat pitch. The pitch curator and Gillespie want to play on the same pitch. I would be really happy if the match took place on a grassy surface and our bowlers took wickets,” Basit said.

Pakistani batters struggled to score big runs in the last red-ball series played against Bangladesh in August-September, and as a result, Shan Masood-led side lost both the matches.

Pakistan, which sits at No. 8 position in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 points table, can’t afford to lose any of the three Tests against England if they want to keep themselves alive in the race to qualify for the WTC final at Lord’s next year.

However, it won’t be an easy task for the Pakistani team, which hasn’t won a Test match in Pakistan since 2021. In the last Test series played between England and Pakistan in December 2022, England defeated Pakistan in all three matches to whitewash the series, and the Poms will be eager to repeat the same show this year as well.

The second match of the Test series is also scheduled to take place in Multan, whereas Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium will host the third Test from October 24-28.