A number of cricket fans who turned out for Australia’s historic Rawalpindi Test against Pakistan expressed dissatisfaction with the pitch prepared for the series opener, feeling that a more supportive track would have been appropriate for such a historic event.
According to the correspondent, spectators who showed up in numbers at the stadium over the last three days were surprised by the curator’s selection.
“Look, Test cricket is already dying down with the advent of T20I and other limited-overs formats. There needs to be supporting pitches, not the ones like we found at the Pindi Stadium for this historic occasion,” said Tehseen Ahmad, who specially traveled from Peshawar to watch both teams in action.
Haider Atiq, a local club cricketer, was also concerned about the choice of the pitch for this occasion. “During the last thirty years, I have watched every international match on this ground but have never seen the Pindi Stadium pitch so docile and placid,” adding that instead of attracting people to Test cricket, that only discouraged them.
Not only the fans, but also the cricketers, had their remarks on the choice of track for the first Test match.
A local club cricketer, Abid Ali, was upset at Shaheen Shah’s failure to run through the Australian batting lineup. He is a quality bowler. Shaheen is in top form and could have played a decisive role here had the pitch been a bit greener.
“Why are we afraid of Australian bowlers?” he asked, adding that if we face them at home on green tracks, there is every possibility that our batsmen would come out better equipped for away tours.
Muneeb Hasan recalled that Pindi had previously produced the best of tracks, lively and supportive for the pace bowlers.
“I remember former West Indies great Clive Lloyd rating Pindi Stadium’s playing track as one of the best in the world. What happened to the true nature of the Pindi pitch? I still believe that a lively and supporting track could have been prepared, but the fear of ‘lost’ Pakistani curators did not help in preparing that type of pitch.”
