Pakistani bowling legend Wasim Akram has slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and its chairman Ramiz Raja for preparing flat and dead tracks for the first two Test matches against Australia in what is a historic tour, the Kangaroos’ first one since 1998.
The Rawalpindi Test match ended in a draw with only 14 wickets falling for more than 1100 runs, while Australia batted seven sessions of the second Test in Karachi to make over 500 runs and then declared their innings.
Wasim Akram called the series boring, saying that he tried watching the first two Test matches and couldn’t because they were boring.
“During our time it depended a lot on what the captain wanted. These two Test matches I tried to watch it but I couldn't. As a ex-fast bowler, I knew this would be a draw match after the second delivery of the match. When West Indies used to come back in our days when Imran Khan was the captain, we used to make slow pitches,” an angry Akram said during an event on Monday.
He further added that the pitches could have at least been made a turner if the idea was to create slow tracks in a bid to get a result.
“There is a method to making slow tracks. If you want to do that, on the basis of a technicality, you roll the center less and leave the area around the front foot a little dry so that the ball turns from day 1. If you want to make slow pitches at least make it a turner so that we get a result-oriented match. I hope they learn from it whoever is making the pitches. It is quite boring to be honest,” he said.
PCB chief Ramiz Raja had defended preparing flat track for the first Test match after criticism, admitting that it was not a good advertisement for Test cricket, but also added that they couldn’t make pitches with pace and bounce that aided Australia.
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