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Ramiz Raja breaks silence on Pakistan's Test series loss to ENG, has his say on Saud Shakeel's controversial dismissal
After the huge Test series defeat, PCB chief Ramiz Raja broke his silence while making a huge statement on the controversial dismissal of Saud Shakeel in the second Test match.
Pakistan cricket hit a forgettable low last week when they lost to England in Multan, there by losing the three-match Test series. For the first time since 1959 and the third time ever in their Test cricket history have Pakistan lost three consecutive matches at home. The run includes a loss to Australia earlier this year, followed by defeats against England in Rawalpindi and Multan. After the huge defeat, PCB chief Ramiz Raja broke his silence while making a huge statement on the controversial dismissal of Saud Shakeel in the second Test match.
On the benign Rawalpindi pitch, which later received a very poor rating from the ICC, an aggressive England, led by Ben Stokes, scripted a stunning victory of 75 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series. England then sealed the contest with a 26-run win in Multan earlier this week.
Speaking to the media at the National Stadium in Karachi, where Pakistan are playing the third and final Test match against England, Ramiz did not read much into the twin losses and rather hailed to Babar Azam-led team for remaining positive.
“Jab aap dono matches haare hote hai toh do teen cheezein negative hote hai - ek, negative mindset, dusra, jo dressing room environment kharab ho sakti hai. Par abhi tak iss team ne waise hone nehi diya(When you lose two matches in a row, there there are a couple of negative things that can happen - either there could be a negative mindset or there could be a negative environment in the dressing room. But this team has shown neither). So credit to them,” he said.
Ramiz also felt that had the umpire's decision on the controversial dismissal of Shakeel gone the other way, Pakistan would have won match, leaving the series tied at 1-1. The batter had edged the leg side delivery from Mark Wood, but Ollie Pope grabbed the ball which was dying on. Pakistan felt that the wicketkeeper had grounded the ball while diving, but umpire's decision went otherwise.
“Our Test cricket pool is very limited. We want the players to make their debut at home and none of them were bad debuts. We saw how good Saud Shakeel batted. And had they not given that down-the-leg-side-catch out, we would have won the Test. If the last five batters tend to score at least 10-15 runs then we can improve a lot,” he said.
