'Har ek pe kaam ho raha hai, thodi patience karo' - Ramiz Raja's furious response to reporter's question on Rawalpindi pitch

The Rawalpindi pitch received a “below average” certification from Andy Pycroft, a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, after the conclusion of the first Test between Pakistan and England. Pakistan hosted Australia earlier this year, and the Rawalpindi pitch had acted out in a similar fashion, which led to ICC handing a demerit point to the venue.

Pakistan and England are currently engaged in the third and final Test of the series in Karachi. The hosts lost the first two games as England claimed impressive victories at Rawalpindi and Multan to clinch the series early, with a game to spare. On the first day of the third Test, a reporter asked Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja to share his views on ICC’s decision.

But the former Pakistan cricketer instead fumed at the reporter and went on to bash him saying Pakistan cricket is a brand and the media needs to change their “narrative”.

“Yaar pitches dekho, Pakistan ke dono Test matches mai result aaya hai. Iss narrative se bahar niklo. Yeh hume negative headlines deti hai. Humari cricket ek brand ban chuki hai, agar hum uska khayal nahi rakhenge aur negativity phelane kiliye 10,000 aur chezein hain...yeh pani theek nahi hai aur kursiyan theek nahi hai. Har ek pe kaam ho raha hai, thodi patience karo,” he said in a video shared by paktv.tv.

(If you look at the pitches, both Pakistan matches produced results. Move on from this narrative. This gives us negative headlines. Our cricket has become a brand and we should take care of it. If you want to spread negativity there are 10,000 other things. We are working on it now and you should have some patience)

The first Test saw runs being piled up by both sides. England ended up scoring 657 runs in the first innings, and in reply, Pakistan came close by scoring 579 runs. England then declared the second innings on 264/7 and took a big risk. Just when it looked like Pakistan would finish off the game on the final day, a batting collapse led to England winning the game in the final few minutes before the conclusion of the Test.

“It was a very flat pitch which gave almost no assistance to any type of bowler. 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,” Pycroft said in his assessment of the Rawalpindi pitch.