Pakistan, a graveyard for Test bowlers – in numbers
Numbers show us that Pakistan has served up some of the flattest pitches in the world since Test cricket returned to the country
Shiva Jayaraman12-Oct-20241:45
What can Pakistan change to avoid another mauling?
Pakistan’s capitulation with the bat on the fourth day in Multan and England’s massive win at the end of it shouldn’t obscure the fact that, as a host nation, Pakistan has produced some of the flattest pitches in Test cricket in recent times. England’s record-breaking total of 823 in Multan and the 1379 runs scored in the first two innings of the Test stand testimony to that.Since December 2019, when Test cricket returned to Pakistan, bowlers have averaged nearly 40 runs per wicket there. This is comfortably the poorest in the world and five runs more than Sri Lanka, the second-poorest where bowlers have averaged 34.25.However, things have taken a turn for the worse for bowlers since Pakistan’s home series against Australia in early 2022. Wickets have come at 42.13 runs apiece since then. Again, the worst that bowlers have averaged in any country, but the gap between them and Sri Lanka has increased. While, Pakistan has added two runs to the bowlers’ average, Sri Lanka has moved fractionally from 34.25 to 34.76.Related
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It emerged that, in that series against Australia, Pakistan had wanted to prepare pitches that offered little to no help for the Australia fast bowlers. But the juggernaut hasn’t come to a stop yet.Since March 2022, Pakistan has hosted 14 totals of 400 or more in just 42 Test innings – he highest in any country in this period. The second most – 12 – have come in England, but that’s over 76 innings. While in England, one 400-plus total has come every 6.3 innings, in Pakistan it’s happened once every three innings.In the same period, teams have scored 500-plus runs seven times in Pakistan – also the most in any country. Out of the five 600-plus totals since March 2022, three have come in Pakistan. Sri Lanka is the only other country where teams have scored in excess of 600 runs.
Post the run carnage in this Test, Multan has become the third venue in Pakistan – along with Rawalpindi and Karachi – where bowlers have an average north of 40. There are 28 venues around the world that have hosted two or more Tests since March 2022 and, apart from the three in Pakistan, Trent Bridge is the only one where bowlers average 40-plus.
In the Multan Test, nine bowlers had to bowl more than 20 overs in the first innings. That’s overtime, considering Tests have been largely finishing within four days of late. Since March 2022, on an average, there have been 8.5 bowlers bowling 20 or more overs per Test in Pakistan. This is 1.6 per Test more than in New Zealand where this average is the second-highest.Moreover, in Pakistan, bowlers often bowl 20 or more overs for meagre returns too. Since March 2022, the global mean for the bowling average in innings of 20 or more overs is 36.17. In Pakistan, 64 out of the 94 such bowling innings have an average worse than 36 runs per wicket. That’s a whopping two in every three spells. Australia is the second-worst on this measure where 57.41% of these long spells average worse than the global average. However, spells of 20 or more overs happen less frequently in Australia than they do in Pakistan.
Bowlers don’t get respite even as matches wear on. Pakistan’s top-order collapse on the fourth day in Multan was more an aberration than a norm in Tests in the country. Bowlers have averaged 40.65 on fourth days in Tests in Pakistan since March 2022 (39.48 before this Test). This average is higher than on any given day of play in the other countries barring the first day in Sri Lanka where bowlers have averaged 42.02 since March 2022.
Also, it’s not like spinners or pacers have it better, though spinners have done worse: they average 44.75 per wicket in Pakistan – the worst by over four runs than in Australia, the next-poorest hosts for tweakers since 2022. In terms of strike rate, spinners do worse only in the UAE, which has hosted a solitary Test in this period, than in Pakistan. In comparison, pacers have managed to average just under 40. Only Zimbabwe, which has hosted just two Tests, has had it worse. By strike rate too, only Zimbabwe has fared worse for fast bowlers than Pakistan.Pakistan’s last win in a home Test came against South Africa in Rawalpindi more than three years ago when bowlers averaged 27.83 in the match. The same venue, a year later, in the first Test of the Australia tour, produced just 13 wickets across five days at nearly 89 runs apiece. Pakistan haven’t won at home in 11 Tests since that match. They should have ended up with a few more than just the four draws out of the 11. But England’s incredible innings win in Multan shows that Test cricket has moved on. Teams are playing for results. May be Pakistan’s pitches should move with the times.