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Australia toured Pakistan for the first time in 24 years for a full-fledged tour, which kicked off with a Test match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium where the hosts won the toss and opted to bat.
Cricket fans in Pakistan and all over the world were waiting to see what type of pitch the hosts would offer to the touring Australian team, considering their recent form where they smashed England 4-0 at home.
Despite all the build-up and hype around the 'historic Test', the pitch turned out to be the flattest one that fans across the world have seen in decades. After the first four days, only 11 wickets fell and the fate of the contest was decided even before the final day's play began on Tuesday.
A dead pitch Rawalpindi Test? This guy has a request to curator of Pindi Cricket Stadium! #PAKvAUS pic.twitter.com/z1467soK7B
— Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_) March 8, 2022
Former India opening batter Wasim Jaffer said that rather than sweating over slow over-rates, the ICC should work towards getting rid of 'dead pitches' which are the biggest threat to the longest format of the game.
"I find it amusing when Test matches get over inside 4 days yet teams lose WTC points for overrate. The biggest threat to test cricket is not overrate. Tests rarely go to day 5 anyway nowadays. The biggest threat to test cricket are dead pitches. Dead pitch = Dead game. #PAKvAUS," Jaffer tweeted.
I find it amusing when Test matches get over inside 4 days yet teams lose WTC points for overrate. The biggest threat to test cricket is not overrate. Tests rarely go to day 5 anyway nowadays. The biggest threat to test cricket are dead pitches. Dead pitch = Dead game. #PAKvAUS
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) March 7, 2022
Fans too took to Twitter to slam the Pakistan Cricket Board for preparing a track where getting a result across five days was impossible.
24yrs since Aussies have played a test in Pakistan so they make the pitch an absolute road and we get to see 2 and a bit innings for an uninspired draw #14/1100 #PAKvAUS #Rawalpindi #battingaverageboost
— Simon Gray (@givetheslip) March 8, 2022This is a failed plan to curate unfavorable pitch for fastbowlers which damaged the charm of Rawalpindi Test. You can never curate spin friendly pitches in Pindi Cricket Stadium!The conditions in Rawalpindi are naturally meant to favor pacers hence should be kept natural #PAKvAUS
— Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_) March 7, 2022Cricket pitch bol ke highway pe match khila diya 4 din hoye lekin 1st innings khtm ni hui inki https://t.co/oqwqYWfqLd
— Satish Shah (@iamstsh) March 7, 2022I reckon a literal road would have more variation than the cricket pitch in Rawalpindi at the minute
— Kishan (@ShishKebab2k) March 8, 2022The whole world went crazy @ICC intervened to assess pitch quality @ Ahmedabad pitch for supporting spin bowling.
but its all okay when a road of a pitch which supports batting is served at Rawalpindi #hypocrisy at its best!!@ICC any comments??@BCCI @TheRealPCB @ECB_cricket
We could have easily have beaten Australia on a normal Rawalpindi wicket but instead PCB thought of preparing this road I hate this.
— Ali (@Bhuut_) March 6, 2022Playing on Rawalpindi pitch be like
Its a shame we waited 24 years to play on a road? @TheRealPCB seriously need to look into this matter otherwise test cricket would be dead in Pakistan, no one want to engage in boring matches,#AUSvsPAK #Cricket #TeamPakistan #PAKvAUS pic.twitter.com/VrwlrgoFa6
On one of the flattest pitches in the world, Pakistan batters scored runs for fun but showed little intent as their scoring rate was below three runs per over.
Azhar Ali and Imam-ul-Haq scored 185 and 157 runs respectively to take Pakistan's total to 476 for four in the first innings.
Most Test hundreds for Pakistan:
Younis Khan 34
Inzamam-ul-Haq 25
Mohammad Yousuf 24
Javed Miandad 23
Azhar Ali 19#Cricket #PAKvAUS pic.twitter.com/7uWEWK1QPl
In reply, Australia too started well and put on a 156-run partnership for the first wicket. However, in a bid to accelerate they kept losing wickets and were bowled out for 459, 17 runs short of Pakistan's first-innings total.
But with a flat deck and bad light along with inclement weather, the first Test featuring an Australian team since 1998 ended in a draw.
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