The ICC has canceled the demerit points awarded to the Rawalpindi pitch after Pakistan’s first Test against England last December.
The surface used at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium was deemed “below par” by match referee Andy Pycroft, the second consecutive Test pitch at that venue to be given this rating.
However, the PCB, under new chairman Najam Sethi, appealed against the ICC’s decision earlier in January. The ICC stated that its appeals panel reviewed footage from the match and unanimously concluded that the pitch had “several redeeming features”, and felt that the pitch did not deserve a “below average” rating.
The ICC stated that the fact that 37 of the 40 wickets were taken resulted in the match being one of the “redeeming features”.
In the match, England scored 657 runs in the first innings at a run rate of 6.50, before Pakistan returned with a score of 579. In their second innings, England scored 264 for 7 in even quicker time, with a rate of over 7 runs per over. before declaring the over and setting Pakistan a target of 343.
Pakistan were almost set for a draw, but England managed to dismiss them late on the fifth day and won by 74 runs.
He then told reporters: “It is embarrassing for us, especially when you have a cricketer as president. It is not a good advertisement for cricket. We are a better cricketing nation than this.”
This was Rawalpindi’s second demerit point in 2022 after the one it got for the Test against Australia in March.
