Islamabad, Oct 21: Ramiz Raja Shifts Responsibility to Babar for Pakistan’s Pitch Woes
Although he had previously defended the contentious surface conditions, former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ramiz Raja has blamed Babar Azam for the lackluster home pitches during his tenure.
Raja made a major departure from Ramiz’s previous public position when he stated, during the broadcast of the second Test between Pakistan and England at Multan, that pitch-related decisions were heavily influenced by the then-captain Babar.
According to Ramiz Raja,
Actually, I wasn’t in charge of the pitch preparation. All I had on my ears was Babar. I used to ask him what strategies he had to defeat Australia whenever he entered my room. He devised the plan, and in the end, even though I occasionally disagreed with it, he was the captain.
Ramiz was generally acknowledged as the primary decision-maker for Pakistan’s pitches during his tenure as PCB chairman. Pakistan’s pitches were severely condemned for being lifeless and flat as they abandoned their tried-and-true strategy of constructing spin-friendly pitches to challenge the opposition hitters.
Raja, however, dissociated himself from complete accountability in his most recent statements, asserting that he was only carrying out Babar’s plan.
“It becomes a guessing game when you do not know the nature of a pitch,” he continued, underscoring the challenge of scheduling games in the face of uncertain pitch conditions.
If the pitch does not behave as expected, or if it is not to your liking and strength, then you truly cannot prepare for an assault. And that’s been a big factor in Pakistan’s domestic mess.
Raja’s previous defence of the Rawalpindi surface, which was criticized for yielding a high-scoring, boring tie with just 14 wickets falling in five days, has been replaced with this new story.
He acknowledged Babar’s leadership in white-ball cricket but expressed dissatisfaction with his Test captaincy, citing issues with field positioning and game management in particular.
“I rated him partially. He performed better in white-ball cricket than in Test matches. The way he set the stage and handled things occasionally annoyed me,” Raja said.
His most recent comments provide a thoughtful examination of the intricate relationships that exist between the captain of the team and the PCB leadership, especially in light of Pakistan’s continuous struggles with infrastructure and on-field issues.
