Does he want to bat on these roads to improve his stats? NZ commentator Simon Doull on Babar Azam

Former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull has lashed out at Pakistan skipper Babar Azam over the nature of pitches in Pakistan, by questioning if directives to build such pitches are coming from the latter.

“Where do these directives come from? Do they come from Babar Azam? Does he want to bat on these roads and improve his stats?” Simon Doull said, while doing commentary in an ongoing second Test between Pakistan and England.

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The pitches in Pakistan have brought a lot of embarrassment for the Pakistan Cricket Board as the curators are constantly failing to prepare sporting surfaces. The results during Test series vs Australia and England were exposed and triggered massive debate in world cricket over the Pakistan pitches. Even recently ousted PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja admitted that his administration has failed to deliver competitive pitches.

“The people above, the hierarchy, have just gone to leave their noses out of it. It offers nothing, there is no grass on it. There is no seam movement, and there is no carry. You are picking a guy like Mir Hamza who has a terrific first-class record,” Doull added.

Earlier, ICC rated Rawalpindi pitch for Pakistan-England first Test ‘below average’ for not offering any assistance to bowlers. As many as seven centuries were scored in the game and England won the match by 74-runs after putting on board a record total of 506/4 on the opening day, and a total of 657-runs. The venue also received one demerit point.

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The same pitch was used for the first Test between Pakistan and Australia and it was rated below average.