‘Stop hosting home series in UAE’

“Playing on the flat and low bounced pitches of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai has already affected our cricket and our players and if we don’t stop organizing our series there it will eventually damage our cricket,” Yousuf said. The stylish batsman said that playing in UAE for the last six or seven years had an adverse effect on the skills and technique of Pakistani 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,” he said.  

Yousuf said that it was a point of concern that against Australia in two Tests in the UAE in 2014/15, Pakistani batsmen had scored nine centuries while in 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 added. 

He backed any move by the PCB to try to organize 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.  Yousuf also cautioned the PCB to stop the influx of T20 events in Pakistan or it would end up like West Indies in Test and One-day cricket. Yousuf said that having the Pakistan Super League and a national T20 event should be enough in the annual calendar for Pakistan.