The first Test match between Pakistan and England has come under the scanner because of poor pitch conditions at the Rawalpindi Cricket Ground. Several experts, fans and former cricketers have expressed their disappointment over the rather flat wicket.
On Friday, Pakistan’s openers got among the runs on a placid pitch as they took the home team to 181 without loss in reply to England’s mammoth 657 in the first Test in Rawalpindi. At close on day two, Imam-ul-Haq (90) and Abdullah Shafique (89) were approaching hundreds when umpires called stumps with 17 overs remaining. The pitch was again unresponsive to bowlers as the England attack was seen struggling in the same manner as the home side earlier.
Nasser Hussain had described the pitch as an “absolute road”. In fact the pitch has been criticized by Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja as not a good advert for Test cricket. “We live in the dark ages of pitches in Pakistan,” he told reporters, adding, “it’s embarrassing for us, especially if you have a cricketer as chairman.”
Pindi Cricket Stadium’s pitch continues to draw criticism 🤐#PAKvENG pic.twitter.com/aLRiHrbfxp
— Cricket Pakistan (@cricketpakcompk) December 2, 2022
On the same pitch in March this year, some 1,187 runs were scored, while only 14 wickets fell over five days on a similar type of pitch when Australia last played at the Pindi Cricket Stadium. The pitch was rated as “below average” by ICC match referee and had received one demerit point as a result.
The latest one to join the bandwagon is former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, who has lashed out at the PCB for the poor condition of the pitch in Rawalpindi as he talked about the 1st Test in Rawalpindi. Afridi said:
“You don’t enjoy such matches. Ek stage pe toh mera dil nahi chaa raha tha match dekhne ka. Bohot hi boring ho gaya tha, bowlers ke liye kuch hai hi nahi. Batsmen bhi agar maar diye toh maar diye. Maza nahi aaya. Allah kare ki result aaye, inki bowling lineup bhi aisi hai ki shayad Pakistan ko do baar out naa kar paayein. (At one stage, I didn’t feel like watching the game. It became boring, there’s nothing for the bowlers. Hope there’s a result, because I don’t think England can bowl Pakistan out twice),”
Further, Afridi took a hilarious dig at the pitch by stating that even Naseem Shah can score a century on a pitch like this. He said:
“Hamko agar final me jaana hai, badi badi teams ko haraana hai, toh hamein bowlers ko confidence dena padega. Ham shell pe chale jaate hain ki kahi batsman naa out ho jaayein. Come on, thoda positive sochna padega. Hamaari batting achhi hai, achhi seaming pitches khilao. Inn pitches pe Naseem Shah bhi 70-80 run kar dega. (If we have to play in the WTC final, beat big teams, we have to give bowlers confidence. We just can’t live in fear that our batsmen will get out early. We have to get our batsmen to play on seaming pitches. On such pitches (like Rawalpindi), even Naseem Shah can score 70-80 runs).”
