Markram unfazed by spin-friendly wickets ahead of Pakistan Tests

Proteas stand-in Test captain Aiden Markram has reiterated that South Africa are not overly concerned by Pakistan’s tendency to prepare spin-friendly wickets at home.

Pakistan are well known for curating pitches that favour spin, particularly when hosting non-subcontinent teams such as South Africa, England or Australia, in an attempt to gain a home advantage.

However, Markram stressed that Pakistan are fully within their rights to do so and expressed confidence in the Proteas’ spinners — Prenelan Subrayen, Simon Harmer, and Keshav Maharaj.

“I think if it’s your own game, you can pretty much prepare whatever wicket you’d like to prepare. That’s how I see it. So, definitely no question marks from my side,” Markram told the media, ahead of the team’s departure to Pakistan.

“Ultimately, if it’s going to be extreme like it was in the English series, then it’s going to be difficult for both teams from a batting point of view.

“For us as a squad, we’ve just got to be happy with what we have, whatever the conditions look like, and back whoever it is on the day to get the job done, or whoever is operating in the attack to get the job done. So, I’m not too fussed by it.

“I think if you want to use home ground advantage to help your team win a game of cricket, then you should be able to do so.”

The Proteas Test squad have held a two-day camp at the Cricket South Africa high performance centre (HPC) in preparation for the series, where spin-friendly wickets were used in the nets to emulate Pakistani conditions.

“We’re here at the HPC. It’s actually been really good. They’ve managed to get the wickets to turn quite a bit. There are a couple of nets where it’s really exaggerated. You’d almost rather have it here and get to Pakistan and it maybe feel a bit easier,” said Markram.

“We’re expecting the spin side of things big time in Pakistan.

"Naturally, it’s a lot lower from a seam point of view and a lot more skiddy, so it’s quite hard to emulate here in South Africa. But we’ve put emphasis on that and found ways of training for it as well.

“The bowlers have been really good for us over a good period of time now. The attack might look a bit different in Pakistan, but we certainly feel happy with the fact that we’ve got all bases covered.”

The Proteas squad is set to depart for Pakistan on Tuesday. The first Test begins on Sunday in Lahore, with the second and final Test scheduled for Monday, October 20 in Rawalpindi.