Basit Ali: “I will give you an inside story. Jason Gillespie has handed a shut-up call to Pakistan batters. He wants the pitch to remain the same that has been prepared by the groundsman”
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Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali has claimed that red-ball head coach Jason Gillespie basically told the batsmen to shut up after they wanted all the grass to be cut off the pitch during their Test series against England.
He added that Gillespie was happy with the wicket prepared by the groundsman and wanted some grass to be maintained.
“I will give you an inside story. Jason Gillespie has handed a shut-up call to Pakistan batters. He wants the pitch to remain the same that has been prepared by the groundsman,” Basit said on his YouTube channel as quoted by NDTV.
“Pakistan batters wanted to cut off the grass to make it a flat pitch. The pitch curator and Gillespie want to play on the same pitch.”
Pakistan lost the first Test against England in Multan by an innings and 47 runs before bouncing back to win the second Test by 152 runs.
The men in green ended up securing their first Test series win on home soil since 2021 when they triumphed in the third Test in Rawalpindi by nine wickets.
Pakistan Squad for 2nd and 3rd Tests against England: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Zahid Mahmood.