A drawn match is never a good advertisement for Test cricket: Ramiz Raja

The first Test between Pakistan and Australia in Rawalpindi ended in a tedious draw. The surface which had no purchase for the bowlers was criticized severely by many in the global cricketing fraternity. The latest person to echo the notion was the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ramiz Raja himself. Raja believes a drawn Test is not the best endorsement for the longest format of the game.

He further went on to disclose that the PCB has already chalked down their plans to redo around 50-60 of the pitches in Pakistan to bring more life into them and produce results. He stated that he could not implement the agenda when his tenure started in September last year due to Pakistan’s cricketing season being in full flow at that time but reiterated that the revamp will be carried out in the off-season.

“A drawn match is never a good advertisement for Test cricket, and I totally understand that we need to get a result in five days these days, and we get it 90% [of the time], but I want to remind you of 2-3 things,” Raja said in a video posted on PCB’s official Twitter feed.

“It takes 5-6 months to prepare pitches, and during the off-season, you will see – soil is coming from Australia; we’ve experimented, consulted soil experts, and prepared soils, and we will redo 50-60 pitches all over Pakistan once our season ends in March-April,” he added.

Viewers left uninspired by the dull draw in the first Test of the historic series

Raja further empathized with the fans who would have wanted a result in the game. However, he also stated that with still a lot of cricket to be played, the pitches cannot be transformed into being more pacey and bouncy just for the sake of it which can result in tilting the advantage toward the opposition.

The first Test saw just the 14 wickets falling over the five days with both teams scoring over 400 runs in their first innings. The two teams now move to the National Stadium in Karachi for the second Test of the three-match series.