The first three Tests of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2023 ended in three days. Strictly speaking, it was over in two and a half days. The third Test at Indore was completed in six and a half sessions.
When the Test between South Africa and Australia in Brisbane ended in two days, the mouths said that they were doing injustice to their team and they were winning with spin pitches when the Tests in India ended in three days.
As usual, Team India and BCCI did not pay much attention to those comments. But the Ahmedabad pitch where the fourth Test is being held is different. Australia, who won the toss and batted first, frustrated the Indian bowlers for five and a half sessions. If Australia declared an innings at the Okanaka stage, it seemed that we would not be getting all out.
But as Ravichandran Ashwin took 6 wickets on a pitch that was not suitable for spin, Australia was bowled out for 480 runs. The Indian team started batting after the half of the last session of the second day and batted till the last session of the third day and the fourth day.
Team India’s innings ended at 179 overs as Shreyas Iyer was out as a retired heart due to injury. “The pitches of the last three Tests were just two-day pitches. But this is not a five day pitch but a 22 day pitch… this is not correct at all…
If Team India wants to win the series, it is enough to draw the final Test. That’s why they made a batting pitch like this. We thought that the result will come in the final test. We are determined to win anyway. But it is impossible to get a result on such a pitch…’ commented former Australian cricketer Mark Waugh…
’91 wickets were taken in 7 days in the first three Tests. After that, only 15 wickets were taken in four days. There is a need to have a discussion on such pitches…
Image credit: PTI
Dinesh Karthik and Ravi Shastri who were in the commentary box reacted differently to Mark Waugh’s comments. ‘And what kind of pitch do you want? A batting pitch like this… or a spin pitch that ends in three days… I think all those who were raving about Indian pitches will be happy now..
Image credit: PTI
Whatever pitch you wanted, you got one. Here, Australia is not struggling to play spin… It doesn’t matter if the result comes or not…’ commented Ravi Shastri, the former head coach of Team India…
Image credit: PTI
‘Team India batted for two days. If they wanted to play fast, the innings would have ended much earlier. But they batted slowly with the intention of drawing. They wasted overs and time.. When Australia came to bat, they planned not to cooperate with the pitch batting..’ accused former Australian cricketer Brad Haddin..
