ICC rate Rawalpindi pitch 'below average'

Cricket experts and fans seemed quite interested to witness a historic affair between Australia and Pakistan where the opening Test resulted in an unsatisfactory draw. Many big names from the field came up to criticize the Rawalpindi pitch which had nothing on offer for pacers whereas runs kept raining for batters all the days. In the same light, match referee Ranjan Madugalle rated the same pitch below average as it went on to bag one demerit point in ICC’s Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process.

It is to be noted that during the first Test between Pakistan and Australia, taking place after 24 years, only 14 wickets came under the bowler’s belt while 1187 runs were ticked on the scoreboard in three innings. Batting first, the home side declared on 476/4 in the first innings where guests went to collect 459 runs and Pakistan concluded the game by scoring 252/0 in 77 overs.

This does not represent an even contest between bat and ball: Ranjan Madugalle

“The character of the pitch hardly changed over the course of five days and that there has been no deterioration apart from the bounce getting slightly lower. The pitch did not have a great deal of pace and bounce in it for the seamers nor assisted the spinners as the match progressed. In my view, this does not represent an even contest between bat and ball. Therefore, in keeping with the ICC guidelines I rate this pitch as below average,” said referee Ranjan Madugalle as quoted by Cricbuzz.

While Australian ace Steve Smith called the Rawalpindi pitch ‘pretty benign’, Australian leader Pat Cummins denied it to be a traditional Rawalpindi pitch. ICC rate pitches in the following categories- Very Good, Good, Average, Below Average, Poor, and Unfit. In the same process, one demerit point is given to pitches rated below average whereas three and five demerit points are awarded to poor and unfit pitches respectively.