Cape Town [South Africa], January 4 : India skipper Rohit Sharma called out the International Cricket Council (ICC) as well as the match referees over the standard of rating pitches after the second Test between India and South Africa ended inside two days on Thursday.
The second Test at Newlands, saw India claiming a seven-wicket win with a total of 642 deliveries bowled in both innings. The Test was the shortest in the history of red-ball cricket, eclipsing the previous shortest involving Australia and South Africa in 1932 in Melbourne (656).
After winning the shortest Test in history, Rohit opened up on the criticism of some Indian pitches for being rank turners favouring the hosts.
"I mean, we saw what happened in this match, how the pitch played and stuff like that. I honestly don't mind playing on pitches like this. As long as everyone keeps their mouth shut in India and don't talk too much about Indian pitches, honestly," Rohit said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
"Because you come here [in Test cricket] to challenge yourself. Yes, it is dangerous. It is challenging. So, and when people come to India, it is again pretty challenging as well. Look, when you are here to play Test cricket, we talk about Test cricket, the ultimate prize, Test cricket being the pinnacle and stuff like that. I think it's important that we also stand by it. When you are put up against, a challenge like that, you come and face it. That's what happens in India, but, in India on day one, if the pitch starts turning, people start talking about 'Puff of dust! Puff of dust!' There's so much crack here on the pitch. People are not looking at that," Rohit added.
Rohit also went on to single out match referees and some of the ratings the Indian pitches received in World Cup 2023. The pitch for the World Cup final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad was rated below average.
Rohit demanded the standards remain neutral.
"I think it's important that we stay neutral everywhere we go. Especially the match referees. You know, some of these match referees need to keep their eye on how they rate pitches. It's quite important," Rohit said.
"I still can't believe that the World Cup final pitch was rated below average. A batsman got a hundred there in the final. How can that be a poor pitch? So these are the things the ICC, the match referees, they need to look into and start rating pitches based on what they see, not based on the countries. I think that's quite important. So I hope they keep their ears open, they keep their eyes open and look into those aspects of the game. Honestly, I'm all for pitches like this. We want to challenge playing on pitches like this. We pride ourselves playing on pitches like this. Uh, but all I wanna say is be neutral," the India skipper added.
In the two-Test series that concluded on Thursday, South Africa did not bowl any spinner at all. India, however, bowled only 19 overs of spin in the first Test and not a single one in the second innings.
Rohit brought up this point asking why a turner raises more eyebrows than one that seams and bounces as much as the surface at Cape Town.
"Honestly, I would like to see how the pitches are rated. I want to see that. Whatever... that chart, I would love to see it, how they rate the pitches, because Mumbai, Bangalore, Cape Town, Centurion, all different venues, overhead conditions are different. The pitches deteriorate quite fast when the sun is beating down that hard on the pitch. And in India as well, we know that the conditions in India will spin without a doubt, but obviously people don't like it because it spins from day one. But that's not the point. If the ball seams from ball one, that's okay, right, for everyone? That's not fair. The ball starts spinning from ball one, it should be okay, in my opinion," Rohit said.
"Otherwise, you stay neutral, and you start rating these kind of pitches also bad, because if you want the ball only to seam and not turn, in my opinion, that is absolutely wrong. So that's my judgment, that's my opinion on it. I'll stick by it because I've seen enough of cricket now and I've seen enough of how these match referees and the ICC looks into these ratings. I have no issues in how they want to rate, but stay neutral to everything that you do," the India skipper added.
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