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Cricket Players'Aap khel le phir': Watch furious Ramiz Raja snaps at journalist for quoting Babar Azam amid Rawalpindi pitch row
PCB chief Ramiz Raja was asked about the pitch and the criticism over it, but he snapped at the journalist who quoted Pakistan skipper Babar Azam in one of his queries.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has once again come under criticism owing to the unresponsive Rawalpindi pitch where the first Test between Pakistan and England are being played. After England scored a monumental 657 runs with a record 506 runs on Day 1, laced with four centuries, Pakistan had two centurions of their own. PCB chief Ramiz Raja was asked about the pitch and the criticism over it, but he snapped at the journalist who quoted Pakistan skipper Babar Azam in one of his queries.
Ramiz was present on Day 2 in Rawalpindi where he was asked about the criticism pertaining to the pitch. One of the journalist asked, “In such cases what type of pitches we have had because Babar had said that we have a golden chance here?”
The journalist reminded Ramiz of Babar's pre-match quote on Pakistan's chances to reach the World Test Championship final. “We are excited about that prospect of playing the WTC final. This is an important series for that. We have a golden chance to achieve that if we win four of the five Tests to come [three against England followed by two against New Zealand],” he had said. "We got around a week to prepare for the series, so that was great and has given us some edge and momentum. The best thing was that first-class matches were on so some of the players were already playing red-ball cricket."
Ramiz fumed at the reporter saying, “Phir wohi baat kar rahe hain, aap khel le phir (Again you are saying the same thing…you go and play then).”
Talking about the Rawalpindi pitch, Ramiz told BBC Test Match Special on Friday, "I have really not cracked the code regarding a Test match pitch, unfortunately. Absolutely (disappointed with this pitch). The reason why I'm stressing on drop-in pitches in Pakistan is because you'll go to Multan and Karachi, and you'll get a similar flavor. We don't get bounce, it's to do with clay, how we prepare a pitch - I don't know what's happening."
