Daily Times

LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf has warned the PCB to stop hosting its ‘home’ series in the UAE or it will damage Pakistan cricket.

“Playing on the flat and low-bounce pitches of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai has already affected our cricket and our players, and if we don’t stop organising our series there it will eventually damage our cricket,” Yousuf told PTI.

He said that playing in the UAE for the last six or seven years had an adverse effect on the skills and technique of Pakistan batsmen. “If it is all about creating records, fine. But it is not helping our cricket in anyway and we will stop producing players capable of playing on any surface in a few years’ time if we continue playing our home series in UAE.”

Yousuf said that it was a point of concern that against Australia in two Tests in the UAE in 2014-15, Pakistan batsmen had scored nine centuries while in the first two Tests in England there was only one century.

“And let us be straight, so far we have not encountered any typical English pitch in the ongoing series,” he said.

He backed any move by the PCB to try to organise its home series at some other neutral venue. “Sri Lanka or Bangladesh are far better options as conditions there are more suited for cricket,” he said.

PCB is forced to organise their home series at neutral venues since the attack by gunmen on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in March 2009.