The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has started to prepare for the next year’s T20 World Cup which will be played in Australia in 2022. Pakistan was defeated by eventual champions Australia in the semi-finals of this year’s ICC event.

In order to prepare the Pakistani team better for the Australian pitches, PCB will install drop-in surfaces at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore and the National Stadium in Karachi in 2022. PCB has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with investment firm Arif Habib Group, which will cover the procurement costs of PKR 37 crores.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja reckons that preparing the country’s cricketers according to specific conditions hasn’t been given enough importance in the past and he attributes the lack of preparedness as one of the reasons for Pakistan’s dismal overseas performance.

In Australia, Pakistan has won just four Tests out of 37 while losing 26. In South Africa, they have won only two out of 15 Tests, with 12 losses.

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In a conversation with ESPNCricinfo, Ramiz Raja said, “This wasn’t given enough importance in the past, but for me as a cricketer and now a PCB chairman, its painful to see that it wasn’t given its due. Neither was it devised properly. It’s really an important element, and when I say I want to reset the GPS of Pakistan cricket it’s basically fixing the core of our cricket. And until pitches are not fixed, we aren’t going anywhere as it’s the heartbeat of cricket."

Raja also said that Australia’s win in T20 World Cup 2021 was a wake-up call for the team.

“We just saw Australia coming all the way in the Middle East, adapting well, and winning the T20 World Cup in conditions where we were supposed to make a difference,” he added.

He clarified that he was aware that the drop-in pitches might not be a fool-proof solution and in fact a quick, short-term one. But mentioned that the intent is to prepare for the 2022 T20 World Cup.