Mahmood: Rawalpindi pitch did not behave as expected

Pakistan assistant coach Azhar Mahmood acknowledged that the conditions of the Rawalpindi pitch caught the team off guard. Despite preparing a pitch conducive to seam bowling, the third day played out differently than expected, leaving the team surprised by the surface's behavior.

On a slow track where the ball frequently kept low, Bangladesh ground through the early sessions, and though wickets at frequent intervals kept Pakistan's hopes of securing a big lead realistic, an unbeaten 98-run sixth-wicket stand for the visitors has likely put paid to that goal.

Mahmood indicated Pakistan's belief about how the strip would play was a big factor in the decision to go with an all-pace combination.

"The reason we didn't play a spinner was there was grass on the pitch and we thought it would favour the seamers," Mahmood said. "We were hoping for that. But the three hours the pitch was sunned before the game started on the first day may have made a difference. The wicket dried out; we didn't think it would dry out so quickly, and that made it play differently."

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Figuring out how to make this Rawalpindi surface offer something to the fast bowlers has become something of a minor obsession in Pakistan cricket. Until recently, it was considered the most seam-friendly ground in Pakistan, playing host to a thrilling Test against South Africa that saw between 200 and 300 runs scored in each of the four innings as 40 wickets fell. Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali took nine of the 10 wickets in the fourth innings on a pitch that maintained its pace until deep into the fifth day.

But ever since former PCB chairman Ramiz Raza admitted Pakistan had neutered the wicket for the first Test against Australia in 2022 to draw the sting out of the visitors' pace attack, it has never been quite the same. Only 14 wickets fell in that entire Test, and a similarly bland surface saw England pile up over 500 runs on a truncated first day.

Pakistan brought in Australian curator Tony Hemmings ahead of this season to work on the pitches. At a glance, this wicket had plenty of grass on it before the start of this Test, leading Pakistan to believe it would provide more pace and bounce. But this Test, which has seen just 15 wickets in three days despite a Bangladesh batting line-up that is statistically suspect against high pace, has followed a similar pattern to those two.

"The combination we made required a pitch with pace and bounce, and for that wicket to play like we expected," Mahmood said. "But that didn't happen. When the wicket has pace and bounce or sharp spin, there's a greater chance of the batters making mistakes. When the pitch is slow, the batters have extra time.

"If you look at our team selection, you can see we didn't want a flat wicket. We wanted a good one that supports everyone, the fast bowlers and spinners and to produce a pitch that makes people want to tune in. We will try to make sure the second one has seam and bounce and a bit of pace in it.

"Tony's here with us, and has certain expectations for what he wants to produce the pitch he wants. We'll get him what he needs, but he had a very short time to come in and prepare this pitch. Moving forward, we'll ask him to prepare the sort of surface that suits our planning. He's got great experience, has worked around the world and knows what he's doing."

However, Mahmood did acknowledge the surface wasn't the only factor for Bangladesh finishing the day at 316 for 5, 132 runs away from levelling Pakistan's first innings effort. The sixth-wicket partnership between Litton Das and Mushfiqur Rahim, each undefeated on half-centuries, picked up a scoring rate that had been sluggish for three-quarters of the day. Bangladesh scored 87 runs in the last 14 overs - 12 of them with the new ball - with the batters much more eager to punish the short deliveries on a surface where the ball never threatened to rear up higher than chest height. Litton took Naseem down in a memorable over, smashing him for three fours and a six in the dying embers of the day to underscore Bangladesh's late dominance.

Mahmood acknowledged Pakistan's bowling quality had slipped by that point. "We were not disciplined enough in the last 12 overs," he said. "If you assess the overall day, we were great in 80 overs. With the second new ball we strayed from the plan. Then they attacked. We allowed them to play that type of cricket. But you can also score runs easier off the new ball, and they utilised that to great effect."

In the end, though, mild bemusement at the pitch bamboozling expectations was the constant strain through Pakistan's assistant coach's mind.

"Anyone who looked at the wicket would have thought it would be a seaming track. We can't do anything about the fact it didn't behave that way We didn't make a mistake reading the pitch, it just didn't play like we thought it should."