The current edition of the much-awaited Border-Gavaskar test series between India and Australia has delivered on all of its pre-match hype and hoopla. The quality of cricket on the field has been outstanding, coupled with some brilliant insights and analysis by the team on commentary. However, the discussions about the pitch and the criticisms of some of them have reared their ugly head once again.
In the third Test at Indore, the game produced a result on the third day again. India were skittled out for a score of 163, leaving Australia a target of 76 runs to achieve. The surface of the Holkar Stadium has already come under the scanner compared to the other two pitches that were played on in the earlier tests.
The Story Of A Game That Was Must-Win For Both Sides!!
Before the game even began, former Australia
opener Matthew Hayden, who currently is among the panel of commentators for the series expressed his surprise at the wicket and said that it looked like “A day 3 wicket” on day one.
And it indeed behaved like one when Aussie spinner matt Kuhnemann got the ball to turn as early as the 6th over of the first day. Some of the dismissals of the Indian batsmen turned a mile, quite literally. Rohit Sharma was stumped off a ball that turned almost 8 degrees, while Pujara was knocked over with one that turned close to 7 degrees.
And while both the batters should also be looking at the selection of shots that led to their dismissal also needs to be looked at, the fact that the ball was turning so early left a lot to be desired.
The previous pitches got away by getting an “average” rating by the ICC. Surely the pitch at Indore will not be let off the hook. Match referee Chris Broad is now looking at how diabolical the surface was. A multitude of questions need to be asked of the BCCI as well as the ground staff. But pitches like these are a bane to Test Cricket. It ends up being a very bad endorsement for the game in general.
What Were The Comments Made About The Indore Pitch By Former Indian Skipper Dilip Vengsarkar!?
Former captain Dilip Vengsarkar has chimed in on the topic of the Indore pitch. And he did not mince his words when it came to slamming the pitch. In his latest interview with PTI, he stated, “The pitch makes all the difference. That is if you want to see a good game of cricket. You must have wickets with even bounce so that both batters and bowlers get equal opportunity. If the ball turns from day one and 1st session itself and that too with uneven bounce, it makes a mockery of
Test cricket.”“It is important to get crowds back for Test cricket. You see that in England and Australia. Unfortunately it is not happening in India. People will come back to Test cricket only if it is interesting. Nobody wants to see bowlers dominating the batters from the 1st session itself.”
These were the comments of one of the finest batters of spin bowling India has produced. He was clearly not happy and so weren’t a lot of other former and current cricketers. However, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma downplayed the whole thing. He took the loss with dignity and will want to win the final Test of the BGT series.
