Pak vs Aus: ICC’s attention may be attracted to ‘dead’ Rawalpindi pitch

Pak vs Aus: The International Cricket Council (ICC) may be keeping an eye on the pitch at the Pindi Cricket Stadium for the historic Test series opener between Pakistan and Australia, as only 11 wickets fell in the first four days of the match.

The first Test will be officiated by ICC Chief Referee Ranjan Madugalle, who has previously assessed a pitch as “poor” for being unacceptable at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) during the 2017 Ashes Test.

After the completion of the Test in Rawalpindi, Madugalle will announce his decision, and if the pitch is deemed bad, Pindi Cricket Stadium will suffer three demerit points.

Any ground that obtains five demerit points over the course of five years will be barred from hosting international cricket for a year.

Meanwhile, both sides’ players were dissatisfied with the way the wicket was handled. The pitch has not played as well as it typically does in Rawalpindi, according to Nauman Ali, while Australia’s vice-captain Steve Smith stated there was nothing for the fast bowlers.

“It’s pretty benign,” Smith told reporters at the end of Day Four. “There’s not a great deal of pace and bounce in it for the seamers, that’s for sure.

“There’s not very much bounce, not a great deal of pace and if you’re bowling stump to stump and setting straight fields, it’s not overly easy to score … but also probably difficult to get out as well.”

The batting average in this match was 84.09 runs per wicket, the highest since the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Test at Galle in 2013. (84.89).

This century, the lowest number of wickets to fall in a Test match that was not significantly influenced by rain (minimum 330 overs bowled throughout the match) is 17.

According to ICC guidelines, the Test pitch should contain seams, bounce, spin, and carry at various phases to provide an equal contest for hitters and bowlers, with the bowlers slightly favouring them.

A pitch is called “poor” if it has little or no seam movement or turn at any stage with normal bounce or carry, denying bowlers a fair match against the bat.

Following the revised ICC regulations, only the Wanderers Test pitch, which faced the Rawalpindi track and was threatening for batsmen, was deemed “poor” in 2018.

Out of their three-Test tour of Pakistan, the Australian team predicted the Rawalpindi track to be the most seam-friendly, with slow and low pitches expected in Lahore and Karachi.

The last encounter between Pakistan and South Africa, played at Rawalpindi, was a bowling paradise for the seam bowlers, with the pacers taking 32 of the 40 wickets.

Nauman Ali, a left-arm spinner, was the most successful bowler in this Test, dismissing six batsmen.

“After yesterday’s bowling, we had a long discussion with Saqlain Mushtaq and the plan was to use the rough areas as there was no turn in the pitch,” Nauman said yesterday.

“Normally in ‘Pindi’ the pitch is different due to weather and the pitch is not very dry and always helps the batsmen,” Nauman concluded.

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