IND AUS Indore Pitch: Not players, pitches have been the talking point so far in the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023. After the first two Tests got over in three days, IND vs AUS Indore Test in Holkar Stadium too has lasted just 7 sessions. As Australia thrashed India by 9 wickets to make it 2-1, BCCI is furious with how the pitch has played in Indore. Samandar Singh Chouhan is likely to get the boot from MPCA just like the Lucknow curator did two months ago as ICC rated Indore pitch “poor” and gave three demerit points. Rahul Dravid, Vikram Rathour and even captain Rohit Sharma complained about the pitch. Follow India vs Australia LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
“The pitch, which was very dry, did not provide a balance between bat and ball, favouring spinners from the start. The fifth ball of the match broke through the pitch surface and continued to occasionally break the surface providing little or no seam movement and there was excessive and uneven bounce throughout the match,” Match Referee Chris Broad said.
What a horror that is for 2nd session of Day-1. #INDvAUS #Indore #indorepitch pic.twitter.com/QLT1GyThVl
— Dr. Hari Babu Sata (@harisata) March 1, 2023
India suffered their first defeat at home since Chennai Test against England. It was just on Day 1, 2nd session when Ravindra Jadeja’s delivery (20.3 ovs) to Usman Khawaja took a sharp turn with a puff of dust coming off the surface. Within two and a half days or 7 sessions, 31 wickets fell and more importantly, it was Indian batters who struggled the most. While Indian fans mocked Australians and Aussie media for pointing out pitch concerns, even they have now turned against the Indore pitch.
“It is horrendous, to say the least. It’s definitely not good,” a senior BCCI official told InsideSport.
IND AUS Indore Pitch: BCCI furious as Indore pitch gets ‘POOR’ rating, Curator Samandar Chouhan likely to get the boot like Lucknow curator -Follow LIVE Updates
InsideSport understands that BCCI will summon the pitch curator after the Indore Test. In all probability, he is going to face the axe. BCCI fired Ekana Cricket Stadium pitch curator in Lucknow after the 2nd T20 against NewZealand. Captain Hardik Pandya lashed out at the pitch, calling it a shocker.
During lunch on Day 1 in Indore, Rahul Dravid had an animated conversation with the pitch curator at Holkar Stadium. Batting coach Vikram Rathour too did not hide his frustration. He went on to say that batters did not play poor shots.
#INDvsAUS: ‘Indore pitch did more than we expected, says India batting coach #VikramRathour#Cricket pic.twitter.com/1g3Oyluooe
— Free Press Journal (@fpjindia) March 1, 2023
“Of course, you can get out as a batting unit, at times. We do prefer to play on turning tracks. That’s our strength, that’s where we are. But how much that wicket turns? To be fair, this is a one-off wicket. The earlier two wickets, I don’t think they were bad wickets by any stretch of the imagination. There was turn but today, it did more, it did a lot more than expected on the first day of the Test match,” Vikram Rathour said at the end of Day 1.
“To be fair to the curators, they had very little time to prepare the pitches. They had a Ranji Trophy season and it was pretty late that it was decided that the game was shifted from Dharamsala. I don’t think they got enough time to prepare the pitch well,” he added.
IND AUS Indore Pitch: BCCI furious as Indore pitch gets ‘POOR’ rating, Curator Samandar Chouhan likely to get the boot like Lucknow curator -Follow LIVE Updates
Meanwhile, the fans lashed out at the undercooked pitch. Termed dustbowl with the loose black soil on the surface coming off from Day 1, it turned and kept low, making life miserable for batters in the middle.
If the pitch at Indore produces a one-run/one-wicket victory on the third day, will that Test match really have been much worse a spectacle than what we saw at the Basin Reserve on the fifth? Does Test length matter more than closeness of margin?
(Genuine questions.)
— Michael Appleton (@michelappleton) March 2, 2023
India won the last two test series held in Australia. The pace attack did a great job. Still don’t understand India’s obsession with the spinning track in home ground.
Ball turning square from 30 mins of day 1 is not good advertisement for Test Cricket.#IndvsAus #IndorePitch
— αηυяαg ⚡ (@anuragbanerjee_) March 2, 2023
As a passionate supporter of Cricket and Indian cricket team, I believe that love for cricket shud always come before winning at any cost. In trying to win the game, plz let’s not kill the game #indorepitch #INDvAUS @BCCI @bhogleharsha @harbhajan_singh @cricketwallah
— Sanil Jain (@JainSan87) March 2, 2023
“It was mayhem. The pitch was not up to test standard, I think that’s a fair thing to say. Balls going through the top (layer) in the first 20 minutes of a test match, that’s not good enough,” former Australia cricketer Mark Waugh told Fox Sports.
IND AUS Indore Pitch: BCCI furious as Indore pitch gets ‘POOR’ rating, Curator Samandar Chouhan likely to get the boot like Lucknow curator -Follow LIVE Updates
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