"Didn't Get The Pitch I Wanted": Babar Azam On Pakistan's Defeat To England In 1st Test

The Rawalpindi wicket, used for the first Test between Pakistan and England, has been subjected to plenty of criticism since the first day. Seeing England muster over 500 runs on the opening day itself, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) received plenty of criticism for the way they prepared the wicket. After the series opener ended in Pakistan's defeat, even skipper Babar Azam admitted being unhappy with the pitch as he didn't get the sort of wicket that he wanted in the match.

Runs flowed from the bats of both the teams for all 5 days as the Rawalpindi pitch continued to offer little to no support to bowlers. 

"Yes my input was there in the preparation of the pitch and we made it clear what we wanted but we didn't get that because of the weather or whatever reason. But we wanted a track with some turn for the spinners," Babar told a post-match conference on Monday.

Babar also didn't shy away from praising England for the manner in which they batted throughout the match.

"We were expecting they would continue to play like that against us. I think it becomes difficult for a captain when your bowlers are not hitting the right areas and runs are being scored both sides of the wicket. But full credit to them the way they batted in both innings," he said.

"It is never easy to comeback after the opposition scores 500 on the first day but I thought we batted well and came close to their total but in the second innings our batters didn't live up to the responsibility," he said.

In the end, the Pakistan captain was surely disappointed to see a match-winning opportunity slip by.

"I thought we were very much in the match till after lunch today to win the match unfortunately we lost back-to-back wickets and that didn't help. But Anderson and Robinson bowled outstandingly well," he said. 

Topics mentioned in this article

Pakistan Cricket Team England Cricket Team Babar Azam Cricket