Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has highlighted ICC’s double standards when it comes to rating Test pitches in the subcontinent compared to those in SENA nations.
Gavaskar’s assessment came after the apex body gave the Perth pitch served for the Ashes opener a “very good” rating despite Australia beating England by eight wickets in two days.
On the other hand, the turning Eden Gardens surface used for the recent India versus South Africa Test came under severe scrutiny after the match was over inside three days.
In his latest column for Sportstar, Gavaskar didn’t only defend the subcontinental tracks but also argued that playing quality spin on turning pitches demands a higher level of skill than handling fast bowling on pacy tracks.
“To counter spin, it is not just about playing forward or back, but also about going down the pitch to smother the turn and attack the ball. That’s where skill comes in,” Gavaskar wrote.
“Yes, I am well aware that today some batters do advance down the pitch to the quicks. But it’s more a desperate, premeditated measure than a reflex technical move. It can come off, just as it does when batters move away from stumps or across them to play limited-overs shots. More than skill, it is luck that makes it come off, but never on a consistent basis,” he explained.
“So, for me, playing on a turning pitch requires more talent and footwork than playing pace. That is why, if you don’t score runs on such surfaces, you are not a great batter,” he remarked.
Gavaskar’s column is framed after the first Ashes Test in Perth and the reaction to the surface there.
“Their narrative that a pitch with bounce and danger to life and limb is never bad, but that a pitch where the ball turns and keeps low is a disgrace, is sadly still believed even by the complexed ones in the sub-continent,” Gavaskar said.
“They will rate a batter only if he scores tons on pacy, bouncy pitches, but if a batter from their part of the world doesn’t get a century in the sub-continent, he will still be called a great,” he further wrote.
