PCB, Ramiz Raja under fire after record-breaking opening stand from England

Pakistan's passionate fanbase has put the Ramiz Raja led Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) regime under scrutiny after a record-breaking opening stand between Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett for England on Day 1 of the historic three-match Test series.
The two English openers went for the lunch interval standing 91 and 77 not out in Rawalpindi on Thursday (December 1) after a morning where runs were scored on both sides of the wicket above 6 runs an over. Both the batters ended up scoring tons, with Crawley making 122 off 111 balls and Duckett finishing 107 off 110 deliveries in a stand that fetched England 233 runs before the first wicket fell.
The Crawley-Duckett stand made 174 not out before the first break of the series to put the surface at disposal and Pakistan's insipid bowling display under scanner. Also, put under the spotlight was PCB chief Ramiz and his regime which had promised to change the tracks in Pakistan.
The fans questioned why such a deck had been prepared for the crucial opening Test of the series when Pakistan are already missing their premier quick Shaheen Afridi and lack a quality spinner up their sleeves. Such a surface only allowed England to warm up to the conditions in Pakistan after 17 years, helping them ease into the Test series with a record stand.
Runs galore in Rawalpindi; Pakistani fans react
The social media went into a frenzy as Pakistani fans reacted in anger and dismay towards their bowling unit and the PCB for preparing what many believe is a lifeless track in Rawalpindi. The two English openers piled on the misery for the Babar Azam led hosts, reaching 174 in 27 overs before going off for the lunch interval. They eventually reached 233 for 0 before the first breakthrough for the hosts.
Here is how they reacted:
The last 100 overs of Test cricket at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium:
โ Nic Savage (@nic_savage1) December 1, 2022
0/410#PAKvENG
The last 100 overs of Test cricket at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium:
โ Nic Savage (@nic_savage1) December 1, 2022
0/410#PAKvENG
If you had to build a *perfect* situation for Bazball, it would be this Rawalpindi pitch and a mediocre attack with three Test debutants and Naseem Shah (who Crawley slaughtered two years ago long before Bazball).
โ Abhu (@abhu_tyagi) December 1, 2022
Says nothing about how it is "changing" Test cricket.
Test cricket in Rawalpindi is beautiful. pic.twitter.com/hKRjB762ja
โ Manya (@CSKian716) December 1, 2022
Surprised to see that the PCB, whose team defeated a billion-dollar economy team twice in one year, still canโt prepare a Test match pitch. Three versus Australia, now this. #PAKvENG
โ Jamie Alter ๐ท ๐ฎ๐ณ (@alter_jamie) December 1, 2022
If Ramiz Raja sir had concentrated more on pitches rather than white validation or beating richest cricket board or adding dropped catches to Kohli's 71st, story might have been different today.
โ Parody Joker (Perry's version) (@Jokeresque_) December 1, 2022
Same stadium, one of them has the flattest pitch with no swing. The other one is a green track with swing on offer.
โ Zaid Babar Khan (@ZaidBabarKhan1) December 1, 2022
One of them is the first test of a "Historic Test Series" the other one is a mid tournament QeAT match.... pic.twitter.com/GVGIrPZRIk
Stop embarrassing us and resign @iramizraja.
โ Hussam ๐ต๐ธ (@iamhussamir) December 1, 2022
DRS problems, road as a pitch. Embarrassing preparation.
Ramiz Raja has successfully ruined test cricket. As a commentator he used to complain all the time that the Pakistan team bats too slow.
โ Haider Abbasi (@HaiderKAbbasi) December 1, 2022
As PCB chief he has given us pitches in which the opposition will smash us for 500 in 1 day.
Ramiz Raja when he was a YouTuber, he made a video about what should they do to make Test cricket better and more popular among young fans and Iโm pretty sure one of them was to make balanced wickets and Iโm pretty sure Ramiz is doing the exact opposite of what he used to say as
โ yang yoo ๐บ๐ธ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฏ๐ต๐ฒ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฆ๐บ (@GongRight) December 1, 2022
Ramiz Raja is trying to kill test cricket in Pakistan, no fan wants to watch pitches like this.
โ Twitt.Arhum (@arhuml92) December 1, 2022
Might as well have touring teams come and play Tests on national highways instead of cricket stadiums in Pakistan.
โ Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) December 1, 2022
There won't be much difference in the quality of cricket.
1)Road like pitches
โ Dr. Idrees Mubarik (@doc_hormone) December 1, 2022
2)Outfield has bald patches, poor quality grass
3)No DRS (momentarily)@TheRealPCB @iramizraja stop this embarrassing stuff!
Pakistan seemed to have not learnt anything from their Test series loss against Australia earlier in the year where a pair of flat pitches allowed the visitors to comfortably ease into the tour before their pace-heavy attack overcame the conditions in the final Test to record a historic 1-0 series win.
With the Asian giants due to host England and New Zealand over five Tests in the next six weeks, their home decks will be under the spotlight. Err on the too flatter side and Pakistan leave themselves vulnerable of allowing the two tourists to put their inexperienced bowling under pressure at home and steal crucial World Test Championship (WTC) points away.