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:

0/410#PAKvENG

— Nic Savage (@nic_savage1) December 1, 2022

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).

Says nothing about how it is "changing" Test cricket.

— Abhu (@abhu_tyagi) December 1, 2022

Test cricket in Rawalpindi is beautiful. pic.twitter.com/hKRjB762ja

— Manya (@CSKian716) December 1, 2022

Surprised to see that the PCB, whose team defeated a billion-dollar economy team twice in one year, still can’t prepare a Test match pitch. Three versus Australia, now this. #PAKvENG

— Jamie Alter 😷 🇮🇳 (@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.

— 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.

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

— Zaid Babar Khan (@ZaidBabarKhan1) December 1, 2022

Stop embarrassing us and resign @iramizraja.

DRS problems, road as a pitch. Embarrassing preparation.

— Hussam 🇵🇸 (@iamhussamir) December 1, 2022

Ramiz Raja has successfully ruined test cricket. As a commentator he used to complain all the time that the Pakistan team bats too slow.
As PCB chief he has given us pitches in which the opposition will smash us for 500 in 1 day.

— Haider Abbasi (@HaiderKAbbasi) December 1, 2022

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 I’m pretty sure one of them was to make balanced wickets and I’m pretty sure Ramiz is doing the exact opposite of what he used to say as

— yang yoo 🇺🇸 🇰🇷🇯🇵🇲🇦🇨🇭🇬🇭🇦🇺 (@GongRight) December 1, 2022

Ramiz Raja is trying to kill test cricket in Pakistan, no fan wants to watch pitches like this.

— 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.

There won't be much difference in the quality of cricket.

— Gurkirat Singh Gill (@gurkiratsgill) December 1, 2022

1)Road like pitches
2)Outfield has bald patches, poor quality grass
3)No DRS (momentarily)@TheRealPCB @iramizraja stop this embarrassing stuff!

— Dr. Idrees Mubarik (@doc_hormone) December 1, 2022

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.