Andy Pycroft of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees gave the Rawalpindi pitch, that hosted the opening Test match of the three-game series between Pakistan and England last week, a “below average” rating. The venue further received one demerit point under the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process. PCB chief Ramiz Raja was on Saturday asked about ICC decision on the Rawalpindi pitch and he fumed at the reporter, asking him to move on from the "narrative".
“It was a very flat pitch which gave almost no assistance to any type of bowler. That was the main reason why batters scored very fast and both sides posted huge totals. The pitch hardly deteriorated during the course of the match," said Pycroft. “Since there was very little in it for the bowlers, I found the pitch to be “below average” as per the ICC guidelines.”
When Ramiz had arrived in Karachi on Saturday for Day 1 of the third and final Test between Pakistan and England, one of the reporters asked him about the Rawalpindi pitch rating and he snapped at him.
“Yaar pitches dekho, Pakistan ke dono Test matches mai result aaya hai. Iss narrative se bahar niklo. Yeh hume negative headlines deti hai. Humari cricket ek brand ban chuki hai, agar hum uska khayal nehi rakhenge aur negativity phelane kiliye 10000 aur chezein hai...yeh pani theek nehi hai uar kursiyan theek nehi hai. Har ek pe kaam ho raha hai, thodi patience rakhiye (Both the match produced results. Move on from this narrative. This leads to negative headlines. Our cricket is now a brand and we ourselves must take take of it. If you want to spread negativity there are 10000 other things. We are working on it now and only ask you to have patience.),” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“Yaar pitches dekho, Pakistan ke dono Test matches mai result aaya hai. Iss narrative se bahar niklo. Yeh hume negative headlines deti hai. Humari cricket ek brand ban chuki hai, agar hum uska khayal nehi rakhenge aur negativity phelane kiliye 10000 aur chezein hai...yeh pani theek nehi hai uar kursiyan theek nehi hai. Har ek pe kaam ho raha hai, thodi patience rakhiye (Both the match produced results. Move on from this narrative. This leads to negative headlines. Our cricket is now a brand and we ourselves must take take of it. If you want to spread negativity there are 10000 other things. We are working on it now and only ask you to have patience.),” he said.
{{/usCountry}}This was the second time that Rawalpindi received a demerit point after the venue had hosted the match between Pakistan and Australia earlier in March this year