MUMBAI: Former India skipper Dilip Vengsarkar has criticised the seamer-friendly pitch at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) for the final Test of BGT, which saw Australia beat India by six wickets inside three days.
Vengsarkar wants ICC, which conducts the World Test Championship, to take charge of Test match pitches, just like it does in its global white-ball tournaments, to ensure “good quality Test cricket” for the numerous fans who still throng to watch Test matches, as was evident in Australia.
“The quality of the pitch at Sydney was substandard. Just like some of the (turning) wickets that we offer for Tests in India are substandard. I think that the time has come, if you want to see good quality cricket, you need to ensure good pitches at the highest level. It’s time ICC monitors the preparation of Test match wickets. They should fly down their pitch experts/curators for every Test staging centre at least 10 days before a Test. This is essential so that people get their money’s worth, and the game, particularly Test cricket, becomes popular,” Vengsarkar told TOI.
“If you don’t do this, every country will prepare poorquality pitches to ensure maximum points for the WTC. The whole purpose of conducting the WTC is defeated,” the former India chief selector stated.
While Australia’s Steve Smith said that he hadn’t batted on a Sydney pitch with so much grass in his life, Sunil Gavaskar was heavily critical of the pitch.
“The Sydney pitch was heavily loaded in favour of pacers. It’s tough to bat on these kinds of strips. It’s easy to criticise the batsmen for not scoring runs, but the fact is the pitch was substandard. There was so much grass on the pitch that the cows could’ve grazed on it! Unfortunately for us, (Jasprit) Bumrah got injured, otherwise Australia wouldn’t have been able to chase 162. But my point is, ‘Who wants to see teams get out or 150 or 180?’ People come to watch good cricket,” Vengsarkar said.