Pakistan and New Zealand are locking horns in the 2nd Test match at National Stadium Karachi. The Pakistan Cricket Board has faced a lot of flak for making batting-friendly pitches for Test matches, and the pitch for the 2nd Test looks the same.
The pitch has been so poor for bowlers that Pakistan were still continuing their first innings batting on Day 4 of the Test match. The same day Pakistan bowler Naseem Shah took matters in his own hands after being annoyed with the stride marks on the pitch.
In the 62nd over of the New Zealand innings, Shah took the hammer from the pitch curator and began hammering the foot marks on the non-strike end. He continued to hammer his way while the umpires, players, as well as the sole pitch curator, stood by watching.
Fans could not resist but make jokes around the flatness of the pitch using terms like highway and road. One user said, “repairing their own pitch” while the other commented that the highway could not be repaired.
Let’s look at how Twitter reacted to Naseem Shah hammering the pitch:
Good for YouTube thumbnails ??
— Ratan Dixit ? (@Dratan15) January 5, 2023
Concrete road hammer kis kam ka ???
— Siddhesh Tegade 45 ?? (@ImSidd4506) January 5, 2023
Instant road repairing ?
— Gujjar (@ImGurjxr) January 5, 2023
Is this a pitch or a highway ?
— Trinath Rao (@TrinathRao11) January 5, 2023
Repairing their own highway! ???
— Harsha #HHVM ?? (@Harsha4PK) January 5, 2023
"DOESN'T TRUST THE CURATOR AT ALL"..
Goated Commentary ??— Aryan Nambiar (@arienambi27) January 5, 2023
— ??????? (@93prateik) January 5, 2023
Our academic pitch is better than this
— Vipin Tiwari (@vipintiwari952_) January 5, 2023
— Nikesh Sharma (@nikesh04sharma) January 5, 2023
As for the match, New Zealand have somehow managed to make a game out of it. The Kiwi captain Tim Southee declared the innings at 277/5 at the end of the fourth day. To top it all, they also dismissed two Pakistan batters Abdullah Shafique and Mir Hamza at a team score of 0.
Pakistan still need 319 runs in 90.1 overs on Day 5.
