Pakistan Cricket Team should be scared of the MCG pitch on offer. The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) curator has revealed that the pitch for the AUS vs PAK Boxing Day Test will be similar to the Sheffield Shield matches. A whopping 67 wickets out of 76 fell to seamers in the two Shield matches at the MCG. With Pakistan’s struggles in batting on grassy pitches, things don’t look good for Shan Masood & Co.
In the first Test, Pakistan folded for just 89 in the second innings of first AUS vs PAK Test at Perth. In the first innings too, they failed to cross the 300-run mark.
“If we can get the pace and bounce like we’ve had in the Shield pitches, we’ll be very happy. We sat down and we decided that this is what we wanted to produce. This is where we want to go, and it was having more life, trying to get more pace and bounce. I’m trying to get a little bit more seam movement,” Matt Page, MCG curator told WAToday.
AUS vs PAK Boxing Day Test under scanner
With Pakistan 0-1 down in the two-match Test series, new Test captain Shan Masood is already under pressure in his first assignment. Team director Mohammad Hafeez slammed the team’s execution during the first Test. And now, they have already lost Khurram Shahzad due to a stress fracture in the rib and an abdominal muscle tear.
Khurram Shahzad picked up five wickets in the 1st Test. And now, Pakistan have to call in someone like Hasan Ali or Mir Hamza for the AUS vs PAK 2nd Test. But batting remains their main concern. Post-captaincy Babar Azam hasn’t looked good. And on a grassy pitch against the likes of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, it is only going to be difficult.
However, Pakistan batter Saud Shakeel still believes that the MCG pitch will suit them.
“The Perth pitch has got the maximum bounce. I think this pitch (MCG) will suit us. The matches in Melbourne I’ve seen, it’s not hard to bat on. When you come to Australia they’ve got good experience, they have a quality attack. When you’re playing in their home conditions it’s more of a mental challenge than physical. As a team we have to go out there and score runs,” Saud Shakeel said at a media interaction
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