AB de Villiers Reacts To Cape Town Pitch As Rohit Sharma Questions ICC’s Double Standards: Rohit Sharma was clearly upset when talking about the Cape Town cricket pitch. The second Test between India and South Africa ended in just five sessions, making it the shortest-ever Test match in cricket history.
Many people, including Rohit Sharma, were worried about the Newlands pitch. On the first day, 23 wickets fell, and by the second afternoon, 10 more. However, South Africa legend AB de Villiers said the pitch was quite typical.
AB de Villiers Reacts To Cape Town Pitch As Rohit Sharma Questions ICC’s Double Standards
The Test match was short, lasting only 107 overs. In the first part of the game, South Africa scored only 55 runs, thanks to Mohammed Siraj taking six wickets. India, on the other hand, went from 153 for four to losing six wickets in just nine balls without scoring any more runs. Later on Day 1, South Africa lost three more wickets, with Dean Elgar, Tristan Stubbs, and Tony de Zorzi all getting out twice in the same day.
The next morning, Aiden Markram scored a hundred, but with little support from the team, the hosts could only set a target of 79. India chased it down in 12 overs, losing three wickets in the process.
“It (Cape Town) was a pretty stock-standard wicket, in my opinion. I remember jumping around there on Day 1,” De Villiers said on his YouTube channel. “If you can just get through the first session on Day 1, it gets easier. If you see the players playing their shots and not hanging around, they were doing well. I remember Ben Stokes scoring a double hundred there. I scored some hundreds there. You cannot allow bowlers like Vernon Philander, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada to keep bowling on off-stump”
Rohit Sharma Slammed ICC For Hypocrisy
Earlier on Thursday, following India’s seven-wicket win that leveled the series, Rohit expressed his willingness to play in such conditions as long as critics refrain from commenting on Indian pitches. Rohit said: “I mean, we saw what happened in this match, how the pitch played and stuff like that. I honestly don’t mind playing on pitches like this. As long as everyone keeps their mouth shut in India and don’t talk too much about Indian pitches, honestly,”
Rohit also criticized the ICC for what he perceived as double standards in pitch ratings. He admitted to being surprised when the track for the World Cup final was rated below average. He said:
“I think it’s important that we stay neutral everywhere we go. Especially the match referees. You know, some of these match referees need to keep their eye on how they rate pitches. It’s quite important. I still can’t believe that the World Cup final pitch was rated below average. A batsman got a hundred there in the final. How can that be a poor pitch? So these are the things the ICC, the match referees, they need to look into and start rating pitches based on what they see, not based on the countries. I think that’s quite important,”
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