On the fourth day of the ongoing Test match between Pakistan and Bangladesh in Rawalpindi, Pakistan fast bowler Naseem Shah addressed the media, expressing concerns about the pitch conditions and the effective use of home advantage.

Naseem highlighted that despite the groundstaff's best efforts, the pitch has not provided much assistance for the bowlers. He said, “We need to be honest; it’s been too many series where we get these types of pitches. The groundstaff tried their best to make this pitch good for bowling, but perhaps because of the heat and sunshine, there isn’t much help from the pitch. We need to think about how to extract home advantage because you have to find a way to produce results from these games, otherwise, you’re not utilizing home advantage.”

Despite the challenging conditions, Naseem acknowledged the efforts of the bowlers, stating, “The bowlers have put in effort.” He admitted that returning to Test cricket after over a year had its challenges, particularly with the extreme heat and the lack of expected assistance from the pitch. “I’m playing a Test after more than a year and it took me time to find my rhythm. The kind of weather we have right now is extremely hot, and we didn’t get the kind of help from the surface as a bowling unit as we expected.”

Naseem suggested that if producing fast-bowler-friendly pitches is not feasible, alternatives should be considered. “If we’re incapable of making the sort of pitches that help fast bowlers, then we should look at whether we can produce spin wickets. However you do it, you need to use home advantage. People come to enjoy Test cricket in this heat, so you need to entertain them. What shouldn’t happen is you’re on the field at home and thinking this is hard work. The more you keep cricket entertaining, the better. It’s something we need to seriously think about.”

Discussing the pitch’s performance, Naseem further said, “We believed the fast bowlers would get plenty of help here. But what we were expecting didn’t exactly happen. With four fast bowlers, your mindset is to take wickets with the quick balls. However, I don’t think it’ll spin either, because there’s grass on the pitch. But the pitch is very dry underneath, and the ball isn’t getting much help off the grass because of that, even if it appears like it might off the surface.”

As of the end of the fourth day, Bangladesh are leading by 94 runs. Pakistan lost one wicket in the final session of the day after Bangladesh took the least of 117 runs in the first innings. The match remains crucial as both teams battle for dominance in this first Test of the series.