Last Updated on 3 months by Charbel Coorey

Pakistan have not won a single Test at home since the start of 2022. In this period, they have played ten matches on home soil, with four resulting draws and six others ending in defeat.

Playing at home is meant to be a big advantage in Test cricket. The likes of Australia and India have made it their mission to ensure their home patch is a fortress. Other nations including South Africa and New Zealand also pride themselves on performing as best they can at home, coinciding with the difficulty most touring teams face in recent years.

The same can’t be said of Pakistan. The return of international cricket to the country was meant to help drive their performance forward. However, it has done anything but. Flat, lifeless surfaces across the country have made the going tough for their bowlers, and the batting lineup has been unable to compensate.

Sadly, even when the pitches have had life in them, i.e. second Test vs. Bangladesh, the result remained the same.

Pakistan at home in Tests since start of 2022: A sorry story

Pakistan’s last Test win at home came way back in February 2021 against South Africa on pitches that aided seam bowling. In fact, their first five home Tests back after a ten-year hiatus saw them win four and draw one.

However, it has been a huge struggle since. Very batting-friendly pitches have been their nemesis. In the nine Tests in Pakistan since the start of 2022, the average first innings score is 427.4 at 48.02 runs per wicket. This includes a game in Rawalpindi where 14 wickets fell across five days against Australia. Later that same year, England had to score a record number of runs in one day just to give themselves a chance of forcing a very late win.

There are other scores of 400+ throughout the Tests as well. It led to frustrations seeping through during their first Test against Bangladesh at Rawalpindi, where the Tigers amassed 565 in response to Pakistan’s 448/6 declared.

“We need to be honest,” Naseem Shah said after Pakistan toiled for more than 167 overs. “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,” he continued.

“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 utilising home advantage.”

Shah was left out of Pakistan’s team for the next game, which ended in a historic series loss against the Tigers.

Worse, Pakistan’s batters have crumbled under pressure, with the latest being the capitulations in the two-match series against Bangladesh. Pakistan as a whole seem to be struck down by a conservative mindset of trying to avoid losing rather than trying to win.

Their record will not improve unless this mindset changes. Time will tell, starting with visits from England and West Indies.