The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) created a lifeless pitch at Rawalpindi for the historic opening Test against Australia, leaving cricket fans with a bitter taste in their mouths. This was Australia's first match in Pakistan in more than two decades, since their last visit in 1998.
Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria has slammed PCB chief Ramiz Raja for defending the pedestrian pitch prepared for the series opener.
When the Rawalpindi pitch came under fire, Raja issued a statement saying that, while the pitch wasn't a good advertisement for Test cricket, Pakistan didn't want to build a pitch with bounce and pace that would hand the advantage to the Australian team.
Kaneria, who was annoyed by Raja's words, called it a lame excuse from the PCB boss. Kaneria also leveled a serious charge against Ramiz, alleging that he refused to select players from Sindh and Karachi.
"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?"
"Is Sindh not a part of Pakistan? Why this preferential treatment? I won't shy away from saying that Ramiz Raja has the fear in mind that a player from Sindh might reach the top. Stop being afraid, if you play such cricket then you won't reach anywhere," Kaneria said in a video on his YouTube channel.
The former spinner mocked the Rawalpindi pitch to the point where he claimed that even Raja would have scored runs on it. Kaneria did not spare Pakistan captain Babar Azam, describing him as "weak."
"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."
