Pakistan are currently hosting England Cricket Team after 17 years of a Test series, as the two teams are engaged in a three-match Test series. With two tests down and dusted, we saw the visitors coming on the top as the hosts mismanaged things on both, despite having familiar home conditions.
Out of two tests, the first, which took place at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, barely offered any assistance to the bowlers. Whereas the batters from two ends freely floated the runs. As a consequence, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has rated Rawalpindi’s pitch as ‘below average’.
The ground now has two demerit points as it conceded a negative point earlier this year in March in a Test against Australia. These demerit points, as per ICC rules, stay valid for five years. If a stadium concedes five demerit points within the course, it gets suspended from hosting any matches for a period of 12 months.
Rawalpindi stadium, if it gains three more demerit points, might be suspended under ICC rules and regulations for being regarded as a ‘below average’ pitch. Luckily, it has not been rated ‘poor’ or else it could have got three more demerit points, just a point away from getting suspended.
As revealed by the global council’s Andy Pycroft of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees in a statement,
“It was a very flat pitch which gave almost no assistance to any type of bowler,”
He further added,
“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.
“Since there was very little in it for the bowlers, I found the pitch to be ‘below average’ as per the ICC guidelines.”
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