Australia on Friday beat India in the 3rd test match by 9 wickets to pull one game back in the series. Steve Smith and his men won the Indore test on the morning of the 3rd day’s play with just a while to go for the lunch break. The win for the visiting side meant, they have now qualified for the finals of the World Test Championships. While the Australian media and it fans for once did not speak about the pitch in Indore, the ICC did.
Indore pitch gets a poor rating –
Once the game ended early on Friday, bad news trickled in for the curator of Indore. It was learnt that ICC had given 3 Demerit Points to Indore stadium. Match Referee, Chris Broad said “The pitch, which was very dry, did not provide a balance between bat and ball, favouring spinners from the start. The fifth ball of the match broke through the pitch surface and continued to occasionally break the surface providing little or no seam movement and there was excessive and uneven bounce throughout the match.”
Sunil Gavaskar slams ICC –
Former Indian skipper and one of the commentators for the series, Sunil Gavaskar was least impressed with the ICC. With the trophy named after himself and Allan Border, the 73 year old veteran tore the ICC apart. Speaking to news media channel India Today, Mr. Gavaskar said “One thing I would like to know, there was this Test match in November in Brisbane Gabba, where the match finished in 2 days. How many demerit points did that pitch get and who was the match referee there?"
3 Demerits points ‘Harsh’ according to Sunil Gavaskar –
India batted poorly in both the innings to score 109 and 163 all out, while the Australians scored 197. At Lunch on the 1st day, India were 7 down without having scored many. The ball was turning square right from the start, but Sunil Gavaskar defended the Indore pitch and said “I think 3 demerit points is a little harsh, because, in this pitch, yes the ball turned, but it was not dangerous. When Australia get to a score of 77 for the loss of one wicket it actually tells you that the pitch got a lot better.”
What did ICC say about the GABBA pitch?
Australia beat South Africa inside two days at the GABBA ground in Brisbane. Former West Indian captain, Richie Richardson who is part of the ICC’s Elite Panel of Match Referees said after the game at Gabba “Overall, the Gabba pitch for this Test match was too much in favour of the bowlers. There was extra bounce and occasional excessive seam movement. The odd delivery also kept low on the second day, making it very difficult for batters to build partnerships. I found the pitch to be “below average” as per the ICC guidelines since it was not an even contest between bat and ball."