“We live in the dark ages of pitches in Pakistan”- Ramiz Raja on Pakistan poor pitches owing to long hiatus of Test cricket in the country
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Ramiz Raja on Pakistan poor pitches owing to long hiatus of Test cricket in the country
England scored the record-breaking 506 runs on the first day in Rawalpindi, which is one of the flattest cricket tracks. For Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja, it was embarrassing. He termed that the pitches are prepared from the dark ages, blaming a decade-long hiatus of Test cricket in the country.
“It is embarrassing for us, especially when you have a cricketer as chairman,” Ramiz said, speaking to the media during the lunch break on the second day of the first Test. Pakistan’s pitches have been scrutinized since Raja was appointed the chairman.
He then went on to explain the effectual solution by bringing the drop-in pitch, “Which is extremely expensive if we’re bringing it from abroad. Instead, we’re developing soil here for drop-in pitches. That way, we can prepare square turners or bouncy wickets depending on what we want,” said Raja.
Although talks have been going around for the drop-in pitches, no progress has been made so far. Raja explained that same kind of soil is the reason behind the same pitches in Pakistan’s stadiums.
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Ramiz Raja says Pakistan has lived in an aparthied situation
Ramiz Raja‘s repeated talks about improving the pitches have rendered him a target for criticism that he isn’t doing too much to prepare a good quality pitch. But he insisted on not interfering in the preparation of pitches.
As other teams didn’t tour Pakistan much in the past, Raja said, “We live in the dark ages of pitches in Pakistan. They aren’t exposed in T20 and 50 overs but they are in Test cricket. We lived in an apartheid situation where teams didn’t come here. Pakistan players had played 70 Tests without playing here.”
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Gouri Das
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