The pitches served for the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia has become a major talking point.
The surfaces for the first two Tests in Nagpur and Delhi drew criticism but the one for the third Test in Indore copped the most flak.
The ball was turning viciously in the first half hour and uneven bounce made the job tougher for the batters. As it turned out, the Indore Test got over in just two days and a session with Australia defeating India by nine wickets.
Despite the defeat, India skipper Rohit Sharma maintained that turning pitches remain the team’s strength and asked the struggling batters to find a way to score on them.
However, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar doesn’t agree with Rohit’s assessment, saying it's better to have pitches that offer a good balance between bat and ball.
The Indore surface has been rated ‘poor’ by the International Cricket Council. The apex body has also awarded three demerit points to the strip, with match referee Chris Broad stating in his report that the pitch was not a fair competition between the bat and ball.
"I think there has to be a little more thought on that. This pitch has backfired in 2012-13 when Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar spun England to a win. I don’t think it’s a great idea to have pitches of this quality," Gavaskar told India Today.
"You want to have pitches where there is a good balance between bat and ball. You want to have a pitch where for the first couple of days, the new-ball bowlers can get some help and the batters can play through the line and score runs. And then from Day 3 and 4, the ball is going to turn a little bit. I don’t know what’s going to happen in Ahmedabad. If the pitch in Ahmedabad is a raging turner, then India might go on to win but once again the pitch might get demerit points," he added.
Gavaskar doesn't believe that the ability of Indian batters to play spin has gone down, citing Rohit and Cheteshwar Pujara’s efforts in the series.
"I don’t think the ability has gone down. Yes, today with the advent of white-ball game, to be able to play the lofted shot with certainty, even on a pitch like this, they do play the lofted shot.
"So when you see Rohit Sharma get a 120 on a pitch where the ball is turning square, you know the current guys can also play. When you see a Cheteshwar Pujara get a half-century the other day on the pitch, you know these cricketers can also play. Yes, you might argue that Pujara doesn’t play white-ball cricket.
"But, it will be unfair to say that today’s cricketers are not able to play in pitches. They do play with a lot harder hands than the previous generations. No, I don’t think that argument is valid," he remarked.
India still lead the four-match series 2-1 with one Test to go in Ahmedabad, which the hosts will need to win to reach the World Test Championship (WTC) final.
The fourth Test is slated to get underway on March 9.
