The first Test match between Pakistan and England proved to be a great run-scoring affair, where runs were seen pouring from every direction. Pakistan won the toss and decided to bat first and scored a huge score of 556 runs on the flat pitch of Multan. But England took a step forward and made the Pakistani bowlers work hard on the basis of brilliant innings by Joe Root and Harry Brook. Root scored 262 runs, while Brook played a mammoth inning of 317 runs.

England declared their innings at 823 runs on the fourth day, taking the total to more than 1500 runs in the first 10 sessions of the match. Amidst this thrilling game, former Pakistani cricketer Rameez Raja looked extremely unhappy with the quality of the pitch. He said that the bowlers did not get any help on this pitch and raised questions on the preparation of the pitch.

Rameez Raja again angry about the pitch

Speaking on TV coverage of the match, Rameez Raja expressed his sympathy for Pakistan’s bowling attack-

“I am sure the bowlers will question the quality of this pitch because they bowled with full force, but nothing happened. You start questioning why such pitches were prepared and why we are playing on such pitches at home.”

We had demanded a good cricket pitch: Shan Masood

It is worth noting that, when Pakistan had earlier lost the series against Bangladesh 2–0, the criticism was at its peak. There was pressure on the team to perform well against England. During the toss in Multan, Pakistan captain Shan Masood admitted that he had asked for a flat pitch against England.

Masood said during the toss, “We had asked for a good cricket wicket. There are good batsmen in both the teams. We were in a position to win but could not win the match from there, which has created some resentment among the team and the cricket fraternity. We want to get back to winning ways and hopefully these players can do that.”