Pakistan went into the first Test of their home series against Bangladesh without a frontline spinner. Did they err in doing so?
Pakistan's squad for the series contained just one specialist spinner – Abrar Ahmed. Apart from him, the likes of Agha Salman, Saud Shakeel and Saim Ayub were seen as realistic part-time spin options. It was thought that Abrar would make the XI, along with three specialist pacers, and one of these batters as the slow bowling support.
Pakistan had followed this template during their last home Test against New Zealand in January 2023. The match prior to that had seen them play two specialist pacers and spinners each. These were also the two combinations used by them against England at home in late 2022.
But two days out from the match, Pakistan released two players from their squad – uncapped batter Kamran Ghulam, and Abrar. Not long afterwards, the playing XI for the first match was announced, which saw Pakistan pick four frontline pacers in Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Ali and Khurram Shahzad.
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Reports from the Rawalpindi stadium indicated that pitch curator Tony Hemming had been preparing a slightly more grassy wicket than usual for the match, with a green tinge visible on the surface a day prior to the game.
Pace bowlers started the game well too, as Bangladesh's Shoriful Islam and Hasan Mahmud took three wickets inside nine overs. It must be said though, that Shoriful's wickets were the results of a dubious third umpire decision, and a strangle down the leg side off a poor delivery.
It soon turned out that the pitch did not have much in store for the quicker bowlers. Saud Shakeel (141) and Mohammad Rizwan (171*) made merry before Pakistan eventually declared with the score at 448-6. At the time of writing, Bangladesh are 413-6 on day four, and it is not inconceivable that they will take the lead.
Mahmood: Rawalpindi pitch didn't play like we thought it would
Pakistan head coach Jason Gillespie said before the match that Agha Salman was good enough to be classified as a specialist spinner, although a first-class average of 40 does not seem to agree with that assessment.
Assistant coach Azhar Mahmood also said at the end of day three that Pakistan expected there to be significant help for the pacers: "The reason we didn't play a spinner was there was grass on the pitch and we thought it would favour the seamers.
"We were hoping for that. But the three hours the pitch was sunned before the game started on the first day may have made a difference. The wicket dried out; we didn't think it would dry out so quickly, and that made it play differently.
"We didn't make a mistake reading the pitch, it just didn't play like we thought it should."
Should Pakistan have picked a frontline spinner?
Given their expectation, one could argue it was not an error to pick a specialist spinner. However, irrespective of their thoughts, going in with an all-pace attack in Asian conditions can be dicey for multiple reasons.
In the subcontinent, drying out of wickets is not a new phenomenon. The heat in this part of the world can cause the quick drying Mahmood referred to, meaning even wickets that were helpful to seam bowling early on can soon become much better for batting.
The knock-on effect of this is that bowlers will be forced to take on longer spells, and doing this with pacers in rotation means putting more strain on what is already an extremely taxing discipline. In Asian conditions, this is exacerbated by the higher temperatures and sometimes humidity as well, opening up the possibility of affecting bowlers' health in addition to their effectiveness.
The need to prevent this then leads to teams having to fill up overs with other bowlers, in order to ensure the pacers get adequate rest. But without a specialist spinner, this means tossing the ball to someone who is going to be less effective. In Pakistan's case against Bangladesh, this was Agha Salman, along with a few overs from Saim Ayub (who actually took one wicket).
Kamindu Mendis (56*) and an injured Dinesh Chandimal (20*) get through to the close, but it's a good day for England at Old Trafford.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) August 23, 2024
Scorecard ➡️ https://t.co/dyFGD5jKRS#ENGvSL pic.twitter.com/UEw8bdXKZc
Gillespie's words on Salman appeared to be the coach shielding the team management ahead of time from criticism of their call to play four pacers, to manage the situation by saying they had, in theory, picked four pacers and one spinner.
Pakistan may have made a mistake in reading the conditions, which can happen to any team anywhere in the world. But even if it had played the way they thought, going in without a specialist spinner remains poor judgment on their part.
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