As a rule of thumb, a bowler as a captain favors a bowling track while a batsman as a captain favors a batting track. I don’t know whether to blame Inzy or PCB or none, but with one of the best fast-bowling attacks at your disposal, preparing dead pitches against the best batting line-up is the same thing as killing your talent and abilities. Pak won against Eng on almost the same pitches, but English team was based on youngsters. If Akmal can score a 100 on a pitch, then Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Sehwag will most likely score more than that. Ganguly is out of form recently, otherwise he is likely to register a big score. Add another 100 for Dhoni. If on an excellant batting track, Inzy or Woolmer expect their bowlers to restrict this Indian team to 679, then this is “gali-level” cricket decission.
Just to keep their As*es saved from media and general public, PCB and senior batsmen favor batting pitches. This puts a lot of burden on our in-form, hardworking or struggling fast-bowlers. One more 3-Test series on such pitches and Akhter will be seen at Raiwand forever.
The weather and conditions saved the Test for Pakistan and Akhter and Sami can play another test (thanks God). Now expecting Inzy, Woolmer and SY Khan to open their big mouths on Geo-cricket: “679 was a descent score but our bowlers failed to provide any breakthroughs……(Inzy delivers a smile)” (Fu*k u all…)
Weather and pitch go side-by-side. The chief curator of PCB had a point, that there is too much cricket and the damp weather is not helpful in preparing a decent pitch. In any case, half the overs in this game were lost due to bad light and weather, so a result, even with a fast and bouncy pitch was unlikely.
The teams are evenly matched. Indian team may seem like a better batting line-up as every one raves about Sehwag, Dravid, Tendu and Laxman, however man-to-man, Pakistan batsmen on their current form are probably at the same level, and definitely not far behind. We have Butt who has proven to be a decent bat in sub-continent and Australia, and we have the experienced trio of Inzi, Yousaf and Younis, plus the off-again-on-again Malik, followed by destructive Afridi and Akmal. Although bulk of the batting should be borne by the top-5 batsmen in each team, and it should not be left for Pathan, Afridi, Dhoni or Akmal to play big innings each time they walk in to bat.
Pakistan thinks they have a better bowling attack, because three of their top fast bowlers consistently bowl faster than the two Indian medium-pacers. In spin, I didn't see Kaneria, Malik or Afridi all that much, but I did see that Kumble and Harbhajan were getting some spin here and there. By no means, its a slam-dunk for any team in any department.
I think the timing of the series is more pitiful than the pitches or anything else. Hope is that Faisalabad or Karachi will have better weather to allow for meaningful cricket.
There may not be that much difference in batting strength as you suggest but senior Indian batsmen have scored tons every where and under all conditions, while except for Inzy and Yousuf, I don't think any batsmen including Younis have managed to deliver consistent performance on pitches outside the subcontinent. In Australia, almost the same team struggled to cross 200 in Tests. The only reason we can give for that is the team was shaping up that time or Lee, Mcgrath, Warne (and even other 3rd-class Aus bowlers who average 100 against Eng) were too tough and new for boys.
On any argument and under all conditions, currently, India has an upper hand over Pak in batting. And anyone who thinks Pak can beat them in bat are day-time dreamers.
Well, if my memory serves me right, Pakistan did beat them, in all aspects of the game, not too long ago.
Anyway, your basic argument is that Pakistan team/board prepared flat batting pitches to save their ass*s from Indian batting onslaught, and hence Pakistan board should be screwed. Interesting argument, except for the small minor problem that Pakistan has never really succeeded in making bowler-friendly pitches at any time during her entire history, regardless of whether their batting is strong or weak, or whether their bowling is strong or weak, or who they are playing with. We are an EOBPM (Equal Opportunity Bad Pitch-Maker) nation.
