Former Pakistan middle-order batter Basit Ali slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for their pitch conditions ahead of the first Test match against Bangladesh. Pakistan will play two Test matches against Bangladesh scheduled to start from August 21. The PCB have already announced their playing XI for the first Test match which will take place in Rawalpindi on August 21. Shan Masood & Co. will feature in the first Test match will a pace attack.
This will be the first assignment for Jason Gillespie since his appointment as the head coach and the team is going with all pace attack against Bangladesh as the Rawalpindi pitch will reportedly help the speedsters.
Basit took a sarcastic dig at the Pakistan team for not having a batting coach and said only Babar Azam is eligible to guide them now.
"The opposition is like a team of kids. Do Pakistan have the courage to prepare a pitch like this (grass) against England? There was no need for a batting coach with Gary Kirsten at the helm, right? So, now with Jason Gillespie, why do we need a separate bowling coach? Who is going to tell them about batting? Only Babar Azam is left. Make Babar the batting coach as well then," he said on his YouTube channel.
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Basit further lashed out at the PCB for allowing Gillespie to bring a new coach to NCA's High-Performance Centre.
"Jason Gillespie has played a lot of cricket and has also had a great coaching tenure with Yorkshire. But please don't do such things in Pakistan. He is from Adelaide and brought someone from Adelaide for the role of NCA's High-Performance Centre coach. Are the PCB officials sleeping? The NCA coach doesn't even know how to do drills properly. He was previously removed from Adelaide," he added.
Pakistan Playing XI against Bangladesh
Abdullah Shafique, Saim Ayub, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel (vc), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali.
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