"Our Test cricket pool is very limited" - Ramiz Raja breaks his silence on Pakistan's Test series defeat to England
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja has opened up about the national team's series loss to England on home soil. The former opener admitted that there is a scarcity of Test players on the domestic circuit, but he believes that none of their new players have performed poorly.
Pakistan's men's team hit a new low last week as they conceded a series loss to England, making it their second consecutive defeat at home in a year.
On a lifeless Rawalpindi deck in the first Test, England relentlessly pursued a win and achieved it by 75 runs. They sealed the series with a 26-run win in Multan as the hosts faced widespread criticism.
The ball that ended Saud Shakeel's fantastic innings.
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Speaking to the media at the National Stadium in Karachi, where Pakistan and England are playing the third Test, Ramiz reflected that had Saud Shakeel not been controversially given out in Multan, the hosts would have won it.
The 60-year-old said
"Our Test cricket pool is very limited. We want the players to make their debut at home and none of them were bad debuts. We saw how good Saud Shakeel batted. And had they not given that down-the-leg-side-catch out, we would have won the Test. If the last five batters tend to score at least 10-15 runs then we can improve a lot."
He also credited the current the hosts for not letting the defeat demoralize them, adding:
"When you lose two matches in a row, there there are a couple of negative things that can happen - either there could be a negative mindset or there could be a negative environment in the dressing room. But this team has shown neither. So credit to them,”
The benign Rawalpindi pitch, which had first-innings scores of 657 and 579, received a below average rating from the ICC.
Pakistan bowled out for 304 in the final Test against England
Meanwhile, Babar Azam and Co. wasted a chance of putting up a formidable first-innings total as England limited them to 304 on day one of the third and final Test in Karachi.
Leach, Rehan shine after Pakistan hit back in third Test
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Only two Pakistani batters passed fifty, with Babar scoring 78 and Agha Salman making 56. In response, England lost Zak Crawley for a duck in the first over as they trailed by 297 runs at the end of day's play.