Had a clear plan of what pitches to prepare for Bangladesh, England Tests: Azhar Mahmood

The second Test between Pakistan and England in Multan will be played on the same surface used for the opening game, which the hosts lost by an innings and 47 runs. The Multan pitch turned out to be super flat and England batters made a mockery of Pakistan’s bowling unit.

The Men in Green are now hoping that the surface will offer some turn during the second Test, starting on October 15 (Tuesday), and are going with just one fast bowler in their XI. Fast-bowling all-rounder Aamer Jamal is the only seamer in the team, with Pakistan opting to pick three spinners: Sajid Khan, Noman Ali and Zahid Mahmood.

Talking about the team combination and Multan surface, Pakistan assistant coach Azhar Mahmood said: "We had a clear plan of what pitches to prepare for Bangladesh, and what to prepare against England," reported ESPNcricinfo.

"Our approach was pace wickets against Bangladesh and spin pitches against England. Our instruction to the curator for the first Test was that the ball should spin after the second day. But the pitch didn't take turn until even the fifth day. Hopefully the ball will begin to take turn on the ninth day."

Pakistan posted 556 in the first innings of the opening Test but ended up conceding 823/7 (decl) in response. Harry Brook smashed 317 off 322, while Joe Root hammered 262 off 365 deliveries. England took a lead of 267 and then bundled Pakistan out for 220 in the third innings.

"You have to take 20 wickets. We thought about how we're going to take those. We thought that if we use that pitch, the thinking was how do we take 20 wickets against England and we thought spin was the way to do it.

"The players who are coming in are experienced. They are all experienced and have been playing first-class cricket for a while. The best option is to play players at home on pitches they are used to, so I don't think there'll be that much pressure on that."

Pakistan have also made some major changes to their playing XI, leaving out the likes of Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah. Meanwhile, Kamran Ghulam will be making his debut and bat in the middle order.

"Babar is our No. 1 player in terms if technique and ability. Pakistan has so much cricket coming that the selection committee decided to give Babar a rest, because Pakistan have to go to Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa,” said Azhar Mahmood.

"We need to take advantage of our conditions. We announced the team for one Test match because we knew we would have changes. After this we're flying to Australia to play white-ball cricket. We knew we'd have to rest Shaheen and other important players because we have non-stop cricket for the next six months."

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