PAK vs AUS | 2nd Test | Not frightened of Australia, says Babar Azam

The first Test match between Pakistan and Australia was a disappointing affair. A dead pitch which led to a dull draw is something no cricket fan likes. As expected, the pitch became a major topic of discussion and reactions have been coming from all around the globe. 

In a surprising move, PCB chairman had released a video saying that the pitch was prepared in a neutral manner due to the unavailability of Faheem Ashraf and Hasan Ali. The Rawalpindi pitch was rated poor by the match referee and it was no surprise that Pakistan captain Babar Azam was questioned regarding the same.

“We’re not frightened of Australia,” he insisted. “The conditions are the same for both teams, and the World Test Championship points are very crucial. As a captain, I wanted us to win,” said Babar. 

Australian captain Pat Cummins had announced that leg spinner Mitchell Swepson will be making his debut in the second Test. Babar was questioned on the same too. “I haven’t seen much of him,” he said. “We’ll watch videos of him and plan accordingly. We’ve started practice here; it’s quite hot and the conditions are different,” he added. 

Babar Azam also came in defence of the Rawalpindi pitch. “Every venue has different conditions that we utilize. You can’t just produce bouncy wickets of ‘Australia-style’ wickets; that’s not possible. We’ll go by our strength and try to win the match that way. Test match situations and pitches are different to ODIs, matches have to last five days. Later on, the spinners will get help,” said Babar. 

While there were no doubts on the batting, the captain also praised the bowling attack. “We didn’t get as many wickets as we would have liked but never let the run rate slip.  We never lost control of the game,” he said. 

“As a Test match, it was an absolute outlier, so [we will] put it behind us and come here where we’ll probably get closer to the conditions we would expect in a subcontinent Test. I expect this wicket to break up a little bit more,” he concluded. 

One can hope that the Karachi pitch will be a good one and we will see a result in this Test match.