KARACHI, Oct 18: Utter chaos and confusion created by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials have thrown the status of the ongoing trial fixture between Pakistan XI and Karachi at the National Stadium into question.

Salim Altaf, the PCB’s director cricket operations, had announced last month during a press conference that all three, four-day matches, being played as part of preparations for the impending home series against England, would have ‘first-class’ status.

But on Tuesday, both teams made one substitution in their originally picked playing XI at the start of the second innings. Opener Agha Sabir was inducted in the Karachi team at the expense of Naumanullah, who has now ended up in hospital with a bout of typhoid. The Pakistan XI replaced Abdul Razzaq with leg-spinner Imran Tahir.

According to the playing regulations for first-class matches, only in extreme circumstances replacement(s) can be made provided they do not contravene the laws of the game. Moreover, the replaced player(s) can’t take further part in the particular match. A substitution, however, cannot bat or bowl under any circumstances in a first-class match.

The status, if there was any, of the current match is further thrown into uncertainty by the ridiculous decision to restrict the second innings to 52 overs per side.

Already, two types of balls were being used in this match. The first part of the first innings of both teams was played with the England made Duke brand before the Australian brand Kookaburra was introduced.

If these matches were being used solely to indulge in experimental exercises, the PCB at least should have declared them as non-first-class beforehand since the sole purpose of holding such games in the first place was to try out as many players as possible.

England are certain to use more than 11 players in the opening tour at Rawalpindi, now likely to be played over four days, as they want to get acclimatised to the local playing conditions as quickly as possible. The status of that match has already been classified as ‘non-first-class’.

But it appears as if there is a lack of communication somewhere down the line which has left the media guessing the actual classification of these matches.

Faisal Iqbal, for example, scored 101 in Karachi’s first innings on Sunday and the media reports the next morning had clearly mentioned that it was the ninth first-class century of the 23-year-old right-handed batsman’s career.

Hasan Raza, leading Karachi, had also reached three figures in the first trial match while representing Pakistan XI against Peshawar before the match was abandoned after the northern parts of the country were devastated by earthquake.