Raja reveals reason behind Pakistan’s sudden turnaround

Former cricketer Ramiz Raja has revealed the reason behind Pakistan’s sudden turnaround in Test cricket since the tour of Australia where the Men in Green lost by an innings in both Test matches against the hosts.

While speaking in a Youtube video, Raja claimed that playing at home played a major part in Pakistan’s success against Sri Lanka in Karachi Test.

“If you play at home, it gives you a massive advantage,” said Raja. “This team was in complete shambles in Australia. It was not because of some magic wand that they came back after 15 days and suddenly got back on their feet. It was because of home conditions, home crowd and support which encouraged and motivated them to win.”

“It’s a brilliant performance since winning a Test match is not an easy task. You have to play well for five days. Plus, they were under massive pressure since they had already lost against Sri Lanka in T20Is earlier,” he added.

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The famous commentator was full of praise for the young performers in the Pakistan side.

“16-year-old Naseem Shah and 19-year-old Shaheen Afridi were the standout performers. Our pace attack is now in the hands of teenagers,” he said.  “Similarly in batting, Babar Azam is an asset that can compete with anyone in the world as he has scored heavily at an average of 62 since 2018. He is making headlines with his brilliant batting.”

The 57-year-old also believes the Men in Green need to priortise Test cricket moving forward.

“PCB needs to give more value to Test cricket as performances in the longest format are always remembered. If you keep on playing Test cricket, then it will also help you in other formats,” he said. “If players who only represent Pakistan in Tests get only four to five matches per year, then they will get rusty and won’t be able to deliver consistent performances.”