India prepared a rank turner in Indore, but their ploy backfired.
Australian cricket legend Mark Waugh blasted the curators for waiting until the last moment to finalize the pitch on which the fourth and final Test match is being played between India and Australia at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Two pitches had been prepared for the final Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 to be played on, but the decision wasn't made until the day before the match, which even left the Australian skipper Steve Smith surprised.
Waugh, now back in Australia after doing commentary in the first two Tests, was baffled as to why the decision was taken so late and called for some action to be taken. Notably, there was significantly more grass on the Ahmedabad wickets than the one used for the third Test in India, which Australia won by 9 wickets against Team India.
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Mark Waugh said on FOX Cricket: “This is not on. I don't know how you don't know what pitch you're playing on. In Australia, I think the groundsman and curators are told months in advance, so they set up the pitch for the camera, the side-screen, the spectators. But in India, it's different.”
He added, “It's a bit like county cricket. You used to turn up to county grounds and there would be three pitches prepared depending on who turned up for the opposition side, then they would decide. I don't know what's going on here but I think something needs to be done about this.”
Meanwhile, former Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin recalled Rohit Sharma's statement that they would want a green wicket in Ahmedabad, if they win in Indore, and how they became victims of their own complacency while slamming the hosts' tactics.
Brad Haddin said on Fox Cricket: “If you go back to the last Test match, just before the Test, Rohit Sharma said, 'I would like the next wicket to be a green wicket, get us ready for the Test championship'. But Australia didn't read that script, they won the Test match.”
He added, “I just think they prepared that wicket thinking Australia were going to lose that Test match, then all of a sudden panicked, and now they had to go back to a traditional Indian wicket.”