Samandar Chouhan, the pitch curator at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore is reported to face the axe by the BCCI, who are furious with the raging turner that was made for the 3rd Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which India lost by 9 wickets in the second hour of Day 3.
This not only meant Australia kept the series alive, but also that they have sealed their place in the WTC final, and India are left in a position where they have to win the 4th Test, in Ahmedabad, to reach the WTC final, or else Sri Lanka, who are yet to face New Zealand in 2 Tests, will get a chance.
“BCCI is furious with how the pitch has played in Indore. Samandar Singh Chouhan is likely to get the boot from MPCA just like the Lucknow curator did two months ago as Indore is likely to get a “below average” rating from ICC,” reported InsideSport.
The pitch in Indore was a proper rank-turner that offered a great amount of turn and grip and bite from the start of the match. In the 6th over of the match, Matthew Kuhnemann dismissed Rohit Sharma with a ball that turned more than 8 degrees.
Indian batters didn’t have any answers to the pitch on Day 1, when the Australian spinners simply remained accurate with their lines and lengths, bowling India out for only 109. Australia then took a lead of 88 runs, which proved more than enough as they were later set a target of only 76 runs, which they scaled down with 9 wickets in hand.
Just after the first session on Day 1, when India lost 7 wickets in the first session, head coach Rahul Dravid stormed near the pitch alongside the curator at the Lunch break to see the surface.
30 wickets fell on the first two days of the Indore Test.
“It is horrendous, to say the least. It’s definitely not good,” a senior BCCI official told InsideSport.
The BCCI will summon the pitch curator after the Indore Test
In all likelihood, he is going to face the sacking.
After Day 1, batting coach Vikram Rathour had said that the pitch was worse than expected, defending his batters that rash shots weren’t played, but instead the pitch did a lot.
#INDvsAUS: 'Indore pitch did more than we expected, says India batting coach #VikramRathour#Cricket pic.twitter.com/1g3Oyluooe
— Free Press Journal (@fpjindia) March 1, 2023
This is India’s only third Test match defeat at home in 10 years. But this has put their WTC final place in some jeopardy.
In January, when India hosted New Zealand for a T20I in Lucknow, the pitch was unusually spin-friendly. India won the low-scoring thriller, chasing 100 runs in 19.5 overs and the Lucknow curator faced the sack. T20I skipper Hardik Pandya had called that Lucknow pitch a shocker.
