Shahid Afridi: “The way Ramiz was speaking, I mean I was shocked to listen to him saying that we cannot make tracks like these”
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Legendary all-rounder Shahid Afridi has slammed former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja for criticising the pitches in the country.
During Pakistan’s three-Test series against England, he admitted that he was extremely disappointed with the pitch in Rawalpindi. Pakistan went on to lose the series 3-0.
“I have really not cracked the code regarding a Test match pitch, unfortunately. Absolutely (disappointed with this pitch). The reason why I’m stressing on drop-in pitches in Pakistan is because you’ll go to Multan and Karachi, and you’ll get a similar flavor. We don’t get bounce, it’s to do with clay, how we prepare a pitch – I don’t know what’s happening,” Ramiz told BBC Test Match Special as quoted by Cricwick.
“T20s and ODIs, we’re fine and pitches don’t come under that kind of scrutiny. But we’re still years away from preparing a great five-day pitch.”
However, Afridi, who recently served as Pakistan’s interim chief selector after Ramiz was removed as PCB chairman, was less than impressed with those remarks as he felt it made the country look bad.
“The way Ramiz was speaking, I mean I was shocked to listen to him saying that we cannot make tracks like these. International matches have been going on in Pakistan for such a long time but then we say stuff like [this]. Ramiz said that he wanted a turning track I feel in this weather it would have been something big,” Afridi said on Samaa TV as quoted by Cricwick.
“Rawalpindi’s track has always been for the fast bowlers with seam and bounce. Why did they even change it? If we are talking about the Rawalpindi pitch, I have never seen a track like this. I have seen a lot of domestic games as well there, but I have never seen a pitch like this which is so flat. It reminded me of Faisalabad or Sialkot track.
“The four big venues – Multan, Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi – I have seen fast bowlers enjoy those tracks because of the bounce. In fact, there was a time when we used to see a lot many fast bowlers coming from Rawalpindi.”
Pakistan are now getting prepared to host the Pakistan Super League (PSL), which is scheduled to be played from February 13 to March 19.
All the matches in PSL 8 are set to take place in Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi and Quetta.