Karachi: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has withdrawn its demerit point awarded to the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Monday. The ICC had earlier given a demerit point to the international cricket venue for producing a "below-par" pitch during the Test match between Pakistan and England in December 2022.
The stadium was given that rating by Andy Pycroft and it was a second successive time that the Rawaldpindi cricket facility had received that rating. However, following an appeal from the PCB, the second demerit point has now been withdrawn.
I am glad to announce ICC have withdrawn the demerit point: Najam Sethi
"We wrote a long and strong letter to the ICC as soon as I became chairman, outlining the records of other venues and challenging on what grounds Pindi stadium should be given a demerit point when we even had a result in the said match," current PCB Chairman Nazam Sethi told the media in Lahore.
"I am glad to announce the ICC have accepted our point of view and withdrawn the demerit point," he added.
Notably, England had managed to score 500 runs on the first day of this Test match. The match seemed to be heading towards a draw before a sensational performance by the Three Lions helped them register a win on the final day. Last year the match between Pakistan and Austalia had witnessed a similar kind of surface but that match had ended in a draw.
In the Pakistan-England Test, the visitors scored at a run rate of 6.50 to post 657. In response, the hosts too put on a big score of 579. In their second innings, England's brave declaration at 264/7 gave them an outside chance before their bowlers wrapping up the Pakistani batting late on the final day to complete a famous win by 74 runs.
Ramiz Raja, who was the PCB Chairman at that time, admitted that the pitch was "embarrassing."
"It is embarrassing for us, especially when you have a cricketer as chairman. This is not a good advert for cricket. We're a better cricketing nation than this," he had gone on record telling the media.