Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has voiced criticism regarding the assessment of pitches, particularly drawing attention to the comparison between Indian rank turners and pitches overseas. Gavaskar emphasized that when Indian curators design demanding pitches for Tests, it is frequently characterized as “chicanery.”
The South Africa vs. India Test match in Cape Town made headlines for the wrong reasons. South Africa scored only 55 runs, and India lost their last six wickets without adding any more runs to their total of 153. The entire match lasted just five sessions, making it the shortest Test match ever, with India winning by seven wickets.
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The Newlands pitch faced considerable scrutiny, and rightly so. Both Indian captain Rohit Sharma and South Africa’s batting coach Ashwell Prince expressed their disapproval of the surface in press conferences.
Rohit Sharma pointed out that pitches in countries like South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia are treated differently than those in the subcontinent.
Rohit emphasized that early seam movement on pitches is okay, but turning surfaces in the subcontinent face criticism. His comments gained attention on social media, and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar also joined in, talking about the ‘excuses’ made for pitches like the one in Cape Town. In his column for Mid-day, Gavaskar wrote:
“These kind of excuses that the curator got it wrong is typical of the SENA countries,”
He added: “When our curators make a dry pitch then it’s ‘chicanery’, as a former Australian skipper said last year after the Aussies had been walloped in the first two Test matches. So our groundsmen do it deliberately, but their groundsmen just get it wrong. It’s like before the third country umpires came in, where decisions by their umpires were excused as ‘human error’ while our umpires were cheats and ‘Delhi Butchers’ and all such derogatory headlines.”
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Gavaskar once again aimed at the English media, this time highlighting their coverage of overseas tours, notably commenting on the upcoming England tour of India.
He said: “In about three weeks time another Test series starts with a country that has the biggest whingeing and moaning media in sport. Anything that doesn’t suit their team will be criticised and allegations will fly thick and fast,”
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