PCB appeals against demerit point awarded to Rawalpindi pitch:
The Rawalpindi pitch received one demerit point when England toured Pakistan last year for a three-match Test series. Recently, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) interim committee led by Najam Sethi has filed an appeal against this decision of the ICC. It was one of the first actions that has been taken by the new administration of the PCB.
The Rawalpindi Test, however, ended in a result with England winning the first Test match of the series. It was a brave declaration and the mindset that brought victory to the England side, the pitch however provided no assistance to the bowlers. It was also rated below par by the match referee Andy Pycroft. The referee said, “It was a very flat pitch which gave almost no assistance to any type of bowler. That was the main reason why batters scored very fast and both sides posted huge totals. The pitch hardly deteriorated during the course of the match.”
Besides ICC officials, English commentators Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton took a jab at the nature of the pitch as well. The Pakistan skipper Babar Azam shared the same notion as he was unhappy with the type of the pitch provided.
Read also: https://icasportsplus.com/icc-to-investigate-allegations-of-corruption-at-t10-league/
“Yes, my input was there in the preparation of the pitch and we made it clear what we wanted but we didn’t get that because of the weather or whatever reason… we wanted a track with some turn for the spinners,” Babar had said.
This was the second time in a year that the Rawalpindi ground has received a demerit point. As per ICC rules, If a venue receives five such points in five years it will get banned from hosting international cricket for 12 years. The first time Rawalpindi pitch got a demerit point was when Australia toured Pakistan in March last year. Both of the sides plundered as many as 1200 runs in the Test match for the loss of only 14 wickets.
Talking about the appeal, the nature of the appeal is not evident. Nevertheless, there are reports that PCB has filed the case for multiple reasons which are supported by data, videos, and so on.
