Basit Ali claims head coach Jason Gillespie told Pakistan batters to 'shut up' for demanding to cut off grass and prepare flat pitch

Pakistan vs England 1st Test: Pakistan pacers looked lacklustre against Bangladesh as they did not get enough help from the surface.

Sports Tak

• Sun • 06 Oct 2024

Shan Masood (L) of Pakistan talks with Jason Gillespie during a training session before the first Test match against England

Shan Masood and Jason Gillespie

Highlights:

Pakistan lost the Test series at home against England in 2022.

Pakistan have not won a Test at home in last 10 games.

Basit Ali claims Jason Gillespie wants more grass on the pitches.

Pakistan have not won a Test at home in a long time. They are practically out of World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final race after the humiliating series loss at home to Bangladesh. They will have another shot at ending the win drought at home when England take on Pakistan in Multan starting October 7. Ahead of the first Test, former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali said that head coach Jason Gillespie told the batters to ‘shut up’ when they asked for flat pitches.

“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 claimed on official YouTube channel.

“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. I would be really happy if the match took place on a grassy surface and our bowlers took wickets.”

For Pakistan, only wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan was outstanding as he scored an unbeaten 171 in the first Test in a losing cause.

Basit’s advice to Masood

Basit wants captain Shan Masood to think like India's Rohit Sharma and make bold calls. Masood has captained in five Tests and Pakistan have faced defeats in all of them.

"Agar aap chahte hain ki Rohit Sharma ke jaise bahadur banein kaptaani mei, to faisle karein (if you want to be brave like Rohit in captaincy, then make decisions). If you take brave calls, then only you will win," said the 53-year-old.

Basit took the names of a few promiment Indian players and urged Masood to identify his match-winners and back them.

"You don't have a Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, (Ravindra Jadeja) or 'Boom Boom' Bumrah. So raise the confidence level of those you have with you. Tell them 'you are my match-winner'. Simple theory," he concluded.

England's previous tour of Pakistan

The last time England toured Pakistan was in 2022. They won the three-Test series 3-0 under the leadership of Ben Stokes. This time around Stokes will not play in the first Test as he is yet to recover from hamstring injury he sustained during the Hundred 2024.