Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ramiz Raja defended the use of a completely benign track for the first Test match between Pakistan and Australia, the first on the soil of the South Asian country since 1998.
He said that Pakistan didn’t want to risk playing into the hands of Australians by preparing a wicket that helped the bowlers with pace and bounce.
Many amongst the cricket fraternity from Pakistan have criticized the flat track in Rawalpindi Cricket stadium which saw Imam Ul Haq scoring twin centuries, Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali hitting tons of their own.
From the Australian side, Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja made 90s as well, while David Warner and Steve Smith scored half-centuries.
The series-opener ended in a high-scoring dull draw on Tuesday. The Rawalpindi track, where Just 14 wickets fell in five days with 1,187 runs scored by both teams.
"I understand fans' frustration and the result would have been good but this is a three-match series. We need to remember that there is a lot of cricket to come. Just for the heck of it, we don't want to prepare a fast and bouncy pitch and play into Australia's hands," Ramiz said in a video message released by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
However, he did admit that the Rawalpindi track was not a good advertisement for Test cricket.
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"You must understand Pakistan team had limited resources for the Test and our bowling line up was disturbed as well with Faheem and Hasan not available and Yasir Shah also unfit,” he added.
"I am totally for having better pitches in Pakistan but I took charge in September and the season had already started. Remember one requires at least five to six months to prepare a pitch. When the season finishes you will see that we are bringing in soil from Australia and we are experimenting here with soil experts. We will redo 50-60 pitches all over Pakistan as soon as our season ends in March-April," he said.
(PTI inputs)
