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Cricket Players'Lahore pitch will be quite similar, won't be super friendly for pacers': Pat Cummins ahead of deciding Test against PAK
Cummins and his teammates had the first look of the Lahore pitch on Saturday ahead of the their first training session for the deciding Test.
One of the major talking points of the ongoing Pakistan-Australia Test series has been the kind of pitches provided for the contest. The pitch in Rawalpindi in the series decider was rated "below average" by ICC, and the one laid down in Karachi wasn't any different either. In two matches of the series, over 2300 runs have been scored - laced with eight centuries - while only 14 wickets fell as both Tests ended in a draw. And Australia Test captain Pat Cummins expects a similar in Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium as well where the final Test match of the series will begin from March 21 onwards.
Cummins and his teammates had the first look of the Lahore pitch on Saturday ahead of their first training session for the deciding Test.
"In terms of the wicket, it will be quite similar to the first two Test matches. There has been quite a lot of traffic here throughout the PSL. So I will expect a lot like that first two matches," he said in reply to the Hindustan Times query during a virtual press conference on Sunday.
"It won't be super friendly for the pace bowlers, there may not be bit of reverse swing...so we will wait and see," he added.
Cummins was spotted with David Warner and Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi during Australia's pitch assessment and the three had a long chat on the sidelines of the Lahore track. When asked about it, Cummins recalled the hilarious discussion.
"We were having a good of a laugh with Shaheen about how does a fast bowler....how does a Pakistan choose to be a fast bowler when they have got these wickets which he found quiet funny (laughs). He is a good man and we had some good laughs," he said.
Sharing his thought on this fielding decision, Cummins admitted that he doesn't mind dropped catches as much as he would be disappointed watching the ball fall short of the fielder.
"The simple answer is that there were not enough bounce in the wicket. So probably four times out of five, if there is a nick, it won't carry to the first slip who is standing all the way back which is the same distance where he might be standing in Australia. So it is a bigger challenge to catch the chances that may come and some of those might go down as dropped catches. But we much prefer to see a dropped catch than the catch that drops short with the players standing too far back. I feel the fielders are being very brave," he said.
[Watch the LIVE coverage of the Australia Tour of Pakistan - 3rd test on SONY SIX & SONY SIX HD channels starting March 21, 2022 at 10:30 am IST.]
