Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman Ramiz Raja has defended the lifeless wicket on offer for the opening match of the ICC World Test Championship series between the Pakistan cricket team and the Australian cricket team. The Australian side has reached Pakistan for the first time since 1998 to play against the home side in all three formats of international cricket.
The action got underway on March 4 with an ICC World Test Championship match at the Pindi Cricket Stadium. Given how the Australian cricket team and the Pakistan cricket team have performed in the recent past, fans expected a cracker of a contest between the two nations. However, the pitch in Rawalpindi was not up to the mark, which led to a draw between the two teams.
Pakistan cricket team captain Babar Azam won the toss and invited the Australians to bowl first. Centuries from Azhar Ali and Imam-ul-Haq guided the Pakistan cricket team to a 476-run total in the first innings. In reply, Australia got all out for 459 runs, and in the second innings, Pakistan were 252/0 when both captains shook hands.
Australian cricket team captain Pat Cummins felt the home team prepared such a pitch to nullify the pace attack of the visitors.
We’ve experimented, consulted soil experts, and prepared soils: Ramiz Raja
In a video released on PCB’s official Twitter handle, chairman Ramiz Raja reminded the fans about the following three things while discussing the pitch at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.
“It takes 5-6 months to prepare pitches, and during the off-season, you will see – soil is coming from Australia; we’ve experimented, consulted soil experts, and prepared soils, and we will redo 50-60 pitches all over Pakistan once our season ends in March-April.”
Raja also admitted that a drawn Test is not a good advertisement for the purest format of the game, hinting the pitch for the next two matches will be better.
