Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has condemned the PCB chairman Ramiz Raja’s “lame excuse” regarding the dull draw in the Rawalpindi Test between Australia and Pakistan.
Australia’s first tour of Pakistan in 24 years started with an unattractive draw: only 14 wickets fell over 5 days as batsmen of both the teams made hay on the flat, dead, a totally bowling averse pitch, which has now been rated below average by match referee Ranjan Madugalle and has received a demerit point.
Ramiz Raja later on conceded that this kind of a draw wasn’t a good advertisement for Test cricket; he tacitly admitted that such a pitch was used to nullify Australia’s fast bowlers, as well as cover for Pakistan missing some of their key players due to injury.
While some have praised Ramiz Raja for his openness and admission of the poor surface in Rawalpindi, Danish Kaneria has slammed the PCB chief. He said that Raja “misled”, “lied”, and “betrayed” the fans who had been eagerly waiting for an exciting contest against the Aussies.
Danish Kaneria said that Ramiz Raja gave a lame excuse
“What Ramiz Raja said today was nothing but a lame excuse and has misled Pakistani fans with the same. He has lied and has betrayed the fans. It’s okay, he was busy with his son’s wedding. He attended the wedding and then saw there was a lot of noise surrounding the dead wicket. The Test grew a lot of eyeballs as Australia was touring Pakistan after these many years, but what wicket did they produce for that?” Danish Kaneria said in his YouTube video.
Danish Kaneria, who took 261 wickets in 61 Tests, lambasted Babar Azam as well, questioning his boldness as a skipper. The former spinner trolled the flat pitch by saying that even Ramiz Raja would have scored on it even at his age!
“What were you afraid of? You had bowlers, but you didn’t play them. You have a weak captain who cannot be aggressive while leading the side. It was such a wicket that even Ramiz Raja would have scored runs on it even at this age,” Danish Kaneria added.
The second Test starts on Saturday at the National Stadium in Karachi.
