'Dead' Rawalpindi pitch may come under the radar of ICC

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The pitch at the Pindi Cricket Stadium for the historic Test series opener between Pakistan and Australia may come under the radar of the International Cricket Council (ICC) as only 11 wickets fell in the first four days of the match.

ICC Chief Referee Ranjan Madugalle is officiating the first Test and has previously rated a pitch 'poor' for being unacceptable at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) during the 2017 Ashes Test.

Madugalle will give his verdict after the conclusion of the Test in Rawalpindi and if the pitch is being rated poor, Pindi Cricket Stadium will receive three demerit points.

Any ground that receives five demerit points in five years will be suspended from hosting international cricket for 12 months.

Meanwhile, players of both the teams were also not happy with how the wicket was played. Nauman Ali commented that the surface has not played as it usually does at Rawalpindi, while Australia's vice-captain Steve Smith said there was nothing for the fast bowlers.

"It's pretty benign," Smith told reporters at the end of Day Four. "There's not a great deal of pace and bounce in it for the seamers, that's for sure.

"There's not very much bounce, not a great deal of pace and if you're bowling stump to stump and setting straight fields, it's not overly easy to score ... but also probably difficult to get out as well."

Batters in this match scored at an average of 84.09 runs per wicket is the highest recorded since the Sri Lanka-Bangladesh Test in Galle in 2013 (84.89).

The number of the fewest wickets to fall in a Test not significantly affected by rain (minimum 330 overs bowled for the match) this century is 17.

According to ICC guidelines, the Test pitch should have a seam, bounce, spin, and carry at different stages to make an equal match for the batters and bowlers, slightly favouring the bowlers more.

A pitch is considered “poor” if there is less or no seam movement or turn at any stage with ordinary bounce or carry, which deprives the bowlers of a fair contest between bat and ball.

After the new ICC rules, only Wanderers Test pitch has been considered “poor” in 2018 which played opposite of the Rawalpindi track and was dangerous for the batsman.

The Australian team expected the Rawalpindi track to be very seam-friendly out of their three-Test tour of Pakistan, with slow and low pitches expected in Lahore and Karachi.

The last match played at Rawalpindi between Pakistan and South Africa was a bowling paradise for the seam bowlers as 32 out of 40 wickets were taken by the pacers.

The most successful bowler in this Test is left-arm spinner Nauman Ali, who managed to dismiss six batters.

"After yesterday’s bowling, we had a long discussion with Saqlain Mushtaq and the plan was to use the rough areas as there was no turn in the pitch," Nauman said yesterday.

"Normally in 'Pindi' the pitch is different due to weather and the pitch is not very dry and always helps the batsmen," Nauman concluded.