The Melbourne pitch dished out for the Boxing Day Ashes Test has come under severe scrutiny after the game was over inside two days, with England defeating Australia by four wickets.
The surface was prepared with 10 millimetres of grass on the wicket, making it heavily favourable for the pace bowlers. A total of 20 wickets fell on the opening day while 16 wickets tumbled on Day 2 as no batter managed to hit a half-century across the match.
Sharing his two cents on the MCG strip, former India cricketer-turned-commentator Aakash Chopra called out the double standards from English and Australian media.
Chopra said if something similar happened on India’s turning wickets, the English media would not waste time calling it the 'death of Test cricket'.
"When the match ended in Ahmedabad in two days, a BBC report said, ‘death of Test cricket.’ Here, they say it’s actually not bad, that two-day Test matches are also great. Hypocrisy much. Something there and something else here,” Chopra said while speaking on his YouTube channel.
"I am talking about the hypocrisy. The match ended in two days in Perth. The ICC rates it a very good surface. The entire world says the pitch was good and that the batters’ technique has become bad. Then the same thing happened in Melbourne. The match ended in two days. There also they say the pitch was good, there was slightly more help, but the batters’ technique has become bad,” he added.
Chopra also referenced England skipper Ben Stokes' response after the match, highlighting the difference in tone when discussing overseas versus subcontinental pitches.
"Ben Stokes spoke very diplomatically because these guys, when they are talking about each other, they are very diplomatic. He said that it was favoring one skill more. If it had been a rank turner in India, they would have said it’s like the death of Test cricket, and what sort of pitch it is? There also it is helping the spin-bowling skill a little more,” he remarked.
Chopra further emphasized that not a single specialist spinner was named in either of the teams' playing XIs, saying the media would break out in criticism if both teams would carry and all-spin attack in India.
"Not even a single over of spin was bowled on the Melbourne ground, and the match got over. How is that right? If a Test match happens in India or in subcontinental conditions and a single over of fast bowling is not bowled, there is an uproar, but that’s not the case here,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the ICC has rated the MCG pitch as 'unsatisfactory', with match referee Jeff Crowe stating, "The MCG pitch was too much in favour of the bowlers. With 20 wickets falling on the first day, 16 on the second day and no batter even reaching a half-century, the pitch was 'Unsatisfactory' as per the guidelines and the venue gets one demerit point."
Under ICC rules, a venue risks a ban if it accumulates six demerit points within a five-year period.
