This Test began with visions of India’s top batsmen ducking and weaving to avoid Shoaib Akhtar’s bouncers. Four days down the line, it’s the Pakistan Cricket Board which is facing a barrage of hostile deliveries over the ‘‘dead’’ pitch. Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq is known to have verbally complained to PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan over the nature of the wicket and Khan, in turn, summoned PCB’s chief curator Agha Zahid for explanations. Zahid, a former Test cricketer, offered this: ‘‘There wasn’t much time and choice either’’, adding that wintry conditions in Pakistan didn’t help his cause. He was then packed off to Faisalabad, where the Second Test begins on Saturday, to prevent a repeat of the Lahore fiasco. Interestingly, grumbles over the Gaddafi pitch were muted on the first two days of the Test, when Pakistan swatted India’s bowlers all round the ground. It’s only when India made a confident reply — which now verges on the world record for the opening wicket — that the dissatisfaction spilled out into the open. Even those who’ve profited from the dead track sound disappointed. ‘‘Mazaa nahi hai’’, says centurion Shahid Afridi. Sehwag was, typically, more blunt: ‘‘This is the easiest batting track I have ever played on. If Pakistan are looking for a result in the Tests, then the nature of the pitch has to change.’’ The PCB’s defence is two-fold: One, the weather — rain and biting cold — which kept the grass from growing. And two, the last-minute change in the Test schedule. The First Test was originally slated for Karachi but because of the change in plans, says Shahryar Khan, ‘‘everything backfired’’. And that led to bizarre — and embarrassing — scenes in Lahore, where Pakistan had enjoyed exceptional conditions in their match against England last month, which they won by an innings and 100 runs. That seemed so long ago today, when Pakistan’s team members were desperately trying to take the shine off the ball—by not polishing the seam, or by pounding the cherry on the surface as hard as they could—so that eventually Danish Kaneria and Shahid Afridi could take over. And far from Shoaib repeating his five-for against England, the Rawalpindi Express and his pace partner Mohammed Sami were taken off when Inzamam realised he didn’t want them to face the trauma of bowling to a ferocious Virender Sehwag. Will things get better at Faisalabad? PCB officials are already talking of the wicket there being similar, maybe worse. ‘‘To see any change there, they might have to dig the whole area (the pitch) and relay it again, which I don’t think will happen at least now,’’ one Pakistani official told The Indian Express today. Faisalabad will not bring back happy memories for Greg Chappell. In his own words, not since 1982-83—when Dennis Lillee returned wicketless in a Test series for the only time in his life—has he heard of a more ‘useless’ track than the one there.
