Pakistan pitches not ideal for high-quality cricket: Samiullah Niazi

Karachi [Pakistan], Jan 3 (ANI): Pakistan fast bowler Samiullah Khan Niazi has called on the country's cricket board to improve the quality of pitches in the domestic four-day tournament - Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

The 35-year-old insisted that the standard of domestic cricket is world-class in Pakistan, however, adding that the pitches in the country are not at all ideal for high-class cricket.

"So, the standard is world-class. However, I have a humble request for the PCB regarding the pitches used in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. At the moment, the pitches in Pakistan are not ideal for high-quality cricket. It appears that our pitches have a lot more moisture than is expected on Day 1 of a game. In my view, this is because a 2 days gap between 4-day games is not enough to allow the groundsman enough time to prepare the pitch for the next match. If this gap is increased, then some degree of equality can be achieved between bat and the ball," PakPassion.net quoted Samiullah Khan Niazi, as saying.

Samiullah has recently finished with the figures of eight for 62 in the finals to guide his side, SNGPL, to a title glory at the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

However, the pacer has appeared in just two ODIs for Pakistan when he featured against Zimbabwe in Karachi and Hyderabad in 2008.

He went wicketless in 20 overs he played for the national side and was eventually dropped, but his 500 first-class wickets in 111 matches make many believe that he should've been given another chance at age 35.

But Samiullah said that he just tries to perform to the best of his abilities and doesn't think too much about his selection in the national squad.

"I have always believed that it is my job to perform to the best of my abilities and it's the job of the selectors to select me if they feel that I have done well enough. I may not have played for Pakistan as much as I wanted to, but I am not disappointed about it," he said.

When asked which format of the game is his most preferred one, Samiullah said that though he had performed well in the limited-overs cricket, the longest format of the game is his favourite one.

"I have played Twenty20 and One-Day cricket and performed very well in those formats, but my personal preference is to play the longer format of the game. This is the format that really gives me a lot of enjoyment and is really the best test of many aspects of one's game. So, your skills, patience and fitness are all challenged in a way which the shorter format can never do," he said. (ANI)